The Living Fire's Will
by Vorgonaz
Summary: What if there was more to the Will of Fire than the belief in the next generation? What if it manifested itself through a rare few? See the different way the world unfolds before Naruto.Minor and/or Major Character Deaths possible. No Godlike Characters.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own the anime or manga Naruto in any way, shape or form!**

**A Few Words**

**Thank you for reading this prologue. This idea was inspired by one of deltabeta26's challenges and a some talks we had. I am posting this ahead of time, as currently I am also writing another story, but I would really like to know what you readers think about it; I plan to continue this, but I don't think it will be my main focus until my first story is finished.**

**Prologue: The Living Fire's Will **_by Vorgonaz_

A blond haired figure stood atop one hill; Right below him, carved into the stone to be remembered for eternity, were four faces depicting four very different yet similar men. The young man had his back turned to the view the privileged position offered; His focus was instead on something different, something that brought rays of light to the village even in its darkest hours; Even now.

A bitter smile formed on his face at one of the memories he had of this place.

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_" Why do we have to do this every single day, Sensei? Can't we just skip it just for today?", a young girl wearing a light blue dress whined as she looked at her teacher, a white haired young man with two red lines starting from the bottom of his eyes and going along his cheeks. He rubbed the back of his head as they continued to walk to their destination. " You know it's an important part of being a Konoha shinobi that can't be skipped, Akane-chan."_

_A brown haired boy next to her sighed as he added. " Besides, the view from up there is breathtaking... I thought you always liked it Akane... Right on top of the carved statue of the Great First Hokage Senju Hashirama, overlooking the entire village.", he said, mainly in an effort to reason with her._

_" Yeah, that's true but watching the same thing everyday becomes boring fast, Jin...", she trailed off before starting to pout. The blond boy on her other side smiled softly at his team mate's antics; He knew that expression on her face pretty well; It only meant one thing: ' Please, don't start with the same story again'. Of course, there was only one thing he could do now._

_'Start with the same story again!', he inwardly laughed as he opened his mouth to say a single phrase._

_" Jiraiya-sensei, do you mind telling us about the founding of Konoha again?". He could sense the girl glaring daggers at him, but he had to get back at her for pranking him the other day._

_" Minato, I'm going to KI-", she waved her fists at the blond boy, but their teacher cut in with a tone reserved for the retelling of his adventures._

_" Glad you gakis are interested in some history! Now where to begin...", he murmured as his hand reached for his chin and began to rub it unconsciously. After a few moments he flashed a smile. " But of course, with the..."_

_' First Meeting!', all three of his students thought before the white haired man finished his sentence; They really had almost learned it by heart now; After all, hearing the exact same thing for months has that effect on everyone._

_" Before this village and country were formed, ninja clans were individual groups of families that sold their strength to the highest bidder; Many were considered strong, others weak: Each had their own traditions, skills, beliefs and ideals. Yet all of them had one thing in common: Their need to be recognised as the strongest.". Glancing back to make sure he had their undivided attention, he continued._

_"In those troubled times, countries were built and destroyed every day, each tasking a single clan to protect it. This was done out of necessity , of course, since at the time, to ask a clan to cooperate with another was met with a kunai in the heart, no questions asked. But even then, two clans eventually emerged, climbing up the countless bodies they had slain to stand above all others; To claim the title of the strongest. Those were...", The older main waited for his students to answer._

_" The Uchihas and the Senju, Sensei.", they all said in chorus, one visibly bored, another irritated, and the last one a tad excited._

_"Right! The Uchihas with their unique ocular powers concentrated in their special red eye, the Sharingan, and the Senju who, even though had no special feature about them as a group, were considered to be the most fearsome of warriors, skilled and well-versed in all aspects of being a shinobi. Both clans were in a league of their own, as no other clan could resist them, and only one could counter the other. And so they fought for years, the Uchihas led by a man called Uchiha Madara, who despite his young age at the time, he somehow obtained a version of the Sharingan even stronger than the common one and bested all his clansmen in combat. The Senju ,on the other hand, were led by the one we know as Senju Hashirama, a man of unique talent. He was the only man alive to be able to combine his water and earth chakra natures, unleashing attacks made of wood."_

_" You forgot to mention his ability to control the Bijuus Sensei!", the blond boy reminded him discretely._

_" I was just about to say it! Anyway... The Uchihas and Senju fought many times, in many different battlegrounds and the results of them were mixed, no clan was able to secure the upper hand for long. In time, they wanted to stop the endless killing that characterized the relationship between them. Being more reasonable, the great Hashirama offered a truce along with an offer to cooperate in defending a new land. After a lot of pressure by his clansmen, Uchiha Madara unwillingly accepted. The place they validated their alliance was the exact spot we are visiting now."_

_" Come on sensei, get to the interesting part already! I swear, each time it takes longer for you to finish!", the visibly angry black haired girl commented._

_Smiling widely, the older man continued._

_" There, right in front of everyone in their two clans, Hashirama joined his hands together and used his unique ability to grow a huge tree, which to the Senju was the symbol of prosperity and stability. The Uchiha recognised it for what it was and welcomed his gesture. It was then that something happened that would mark the new era of the Shinobi world." . The older man stopped there and looked at them, the most grave expression on his face._

_" All the tree's leaves were suddenly on fire; The Senju were surprised by that and immediately reached for their weapons, thinking that the Uchiha had already betrayed them. As everyone observed them closely, however, they noticed something unprecedented: This!", He pointed with his right hand behind him; A huge tree with hundreds of branches of various sizes etching towards every direction, each filled with countless green leaves. On top of each leaf was a small white flame, quietly dancing to the rhythms of the slight breeze._

_" It is said that the Fire spoke to their minds, saying that it had observed mankind for many years; That their effort to be the first ones in a long time with the desire to bring peace to the world should be rewarded. At that, one of the leaves separated from the tree and was carried to Hashirama by the wind; As it touched his bare palm , he did not react as a man whose skin was burned would. Later, he would write in his personal accounts of the event that the fire felt warm, yet familiar, strong yet gentle and soothing... As if it was a part of his own body. That the flame spoke to him alone, and told him its name and how to use it..."_

_" Seika... Sacred Flame... The fire that burns only what its user wants, leaving everything else unharmed... The fire that cleanses the body and soul... The mark of the one who follows the Will of Fire; The Hokage! And the Seika Tree, the symbol of our noble intentions!", Stated the blond in an excited tone, as he looked behind his sensei, watching the small fires tremble again, numbering in the thousands._

_Jiraiya smiled as he concluded, " And so it was decided that the country should be named as the Fire Country and the the village protecting it Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden under the Leaves; Reminding the world that sometimes fire and leaves, Uchihas and Senju, can exist together peacefully, that the impossible can in fact happen!"_

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A firm feminine voice brought him back to the present. Turning to his side, he saw a battle-ready ANBU member looking at him through her cat resembling mask.

" Hokage-Sama, your son has been delivered...", she briefly paused to give him time to understand what she was saying." Your wife is resting... She barely made it, Minato-Sama, but the doctors say she will be fine."

Nodding slowly, Minato knew that as the Hokage there was no time to cry from joy, cheer and spend time with his family. Not when his people needed him; He had made that choice since he accepted his position; Minato was a Hokage first, then a husband and father...even a person.

" What is the situation with the beast, Neko?", the emotionless tone even surprised the woman next to him.

" It is only a few miles away from the main gates of the village, Sir; At its current speed, it will reach Konoha within the hour. Sandaime-Sama is fighting together with the Jounin, but it seems that not even the Seika can soothe the Monster."

_' Then there is only one option left...I am sorry my son, but the village's survival is more important than my life or your happiness...I know Kushina-chan will take very good care of you even without me...'_

" Take the back-up teams and reinforce the Sandaime's forces; Tell him I will be there shortly, I need to make some preparations."

The ANBU only nodded and vanished in a swirl of leaves. Looking back at the tree, he smiled bitterly as he thought that he would never see that unique sight again.

Mimicking his subordinate, he vanished, but in a yellow flash, heading to the hospital.

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-MEANWHILE, A FEW MILES AWAY FROM KONOHA-

A horrific howl covered the voices of many ninjas who were attacking the beast with the hardest hitting long range techniques they had; The Nine Tailed Fox was very resistant to weapon attacks, making all of Konoha's close range specialists useless against it. The long range shinobis did not do much better; Even when combining their attacks into one, nothing could do even some minor damage to the Fox.

Many looked up, as a thunderous voice filled the battlefield.

**" Shinkaton: Hashira-en!"**

A pillar of white flame formed around the Red Beast, gently warming the exhausted bodies of the shinobi present there, but causing excruciating pain to the Fox.

' Thank the Will of Fire we have Sandaime-Sama with us... If it wasn't for him, the Kyuubi would probably be inside Konoha by now.', one silver haired masked ANBU member thought as he heard a howl of agony coming from inside the Sacred fire. They all knew this was a temporary measure and the fox proved them right as it sped through the flame , its nine tails covering its face and body, ready to spread more carnage and destruction to the land.

Moving a few branches forward, Hiruzen Sarutobi gritted his teeth; It was a rare occasion for him to show any sign of frustration, much less anger. His anger though came from the one conclusion he had verified for the umpteenth time that night; He could not stop the Fox, no matter what he used against it. And yet , there was one thing he could not understand at all.

_'Why can't I control it? I have done it in the past with other Bijuu, but why not now? Why not the Kyuubi?'_

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As Minato entered the room his unofficial wife was in , he could barely hold the tears that struggled to leave his eyes; She was sleeping peacefully, a large smile on her face, as her hand was reaching to a very small crib next to her bed, where he saw his little boy moving. Coming a few steps closer, he observed the boy carefully; He had not seen any other newborns in his life, but the father inside him insisted there was no cuter baby in the world. When the infant opened its eyes, he could swear he saw his own eyes in the mirror, looking straight at him. With a fond smile on his face, turned to his wife.

He knew that if everything went according to plan, he would never see any of them again. Wanting to leave something behind for them to remember him by, he slowly removed his white haori with red flames at the bottom, and placed it on a nearby chair., together with his Konoha shinobi headband on it.

' These I leave to you my son..'

Putting his arms behind his neck, he removed a whirlpool-shaped blue necklace, the first gift Kushina had given him, and touched it with his right index finger and whispered one word.

" Shinkaton"

The whirlpool-shaped metal flashed with a white fire warm to the touch. Gently grabbing the hand that was with Naruto, he placed her gift inside her palm and closed it slowly.

' This is for you Kushina... I'll understand it if you never forgive me...', he thought before giving her one last kiss, revelling in the last time he felt her lips against his.

Breaking contact, he moved to his son and picked him up, enveloping him in a soft hug as he disappeared once more, as suddenly as he had come.

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Hearing a familiar voice, Sarutobi smirked at the timing; It was about time the next generation took care of their times' problems.

**"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

_' What took you long Minato-sensei?'_, thought the silver haired masked man before forming hand seals with renewed hope again; Everyone around him did the same, smiles of their faces even when in front of them stood death incarnate.

**"Hmmm... What's up this time Minato? What did you get me into?"**, asked a Toad of comparable size to Kyuubi, as he reached for his blade with his right hand.

The serious tone of the blonde's voice made him understand how grave the situation was. " I am sorry for bringing you into this Gamabunta but I need you to distract him long enough for me to stop him permanently!", he said confidently, his son in his hands.

The giant Toad silently nodded as it unsheathed its blade and grinned at the Red Beast. **" Let's see what you've got, Little Fox!"**

Spotting the Sandaime, Minato jumped down to him to share his battle plan with him; Glancing at Naruto and back to the older blond, he waited for an answer; The young Hokage did not disappoint him.

" This is my son Naruto... I have brought him here because he is a vital part of my plan...", the sadness betrayed in his voice did not make it to his face, which remained calm and confident. The young boy cried at the loud noises of battle and gore taking place mere meters away from them.

Sarutobi's brows borrowed " There must be another way, Minato-kun... My Shinkaton may not work , but yours might...",

"No, you are wrong Hokage -sama", the Namikaze cut in, " We all know you were the one blessed with the strongest Seika of all the Hokages to date; Me included... If you cannot subjugate it, then neither can I.. I would not be doing this if I had another choice, believe me Sarutobi-sama..." The elder only titled his head in agreement.

Handing the boy over to the older man, he only added in an almost pleading voice. "Hokage-sama... Please take care of Naruto and Kushina-chan for me... At least until they can take care of themselves."

With that, the blond man jumped to a nearby branch and started running towards a direction that would allow him to prepare for the Beast's sealing inside his one and only son.

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A figured veiled by the shadows watched on as the young Hokage made his way onto the forest, heading for the directly opposite direction than the Beast. He knew what he was capable of, one of his position's weaknesses was the exposure his personal abilities got. Sealing was a rare art even among Shinobi, so the news of a new seal master, the youngest man to be named Hokage spread like with lightning fast speed.

_' But I won't let him have things go his way..'_, he thought happily as a red eye suddenly shone, distinguishing itself from the rest of the shadowed man.

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**" Shinkaton: Kasai Bakuhatsu!"**, Sarutobi's voice was heard yet again, followed by a blast of white flame that covered the entire front side of the Fox, who quickly tried to use its tails to remove it from its face, giving Gamabunta the opening he had so desperately needed all this time. Having already tried using his blade, the Toad boss had come to the same conclusion the Konoha shinobi previously had: Blades did not work against his opponent.

Bringing his two hands into a hand seal, his stomach filled with water, which he then threw at high speed, accompanied with a yell.

**" Suiton: Teppodama!"**

Being focused on the flames burning it, Kyuubi got hit directly by the attack, stumbling backwards a few steps before finally losing balance for good. The Konoha nins who still had enough chakra left, used all of it in their last attack, while the rest looked on and prayed to the Fire that their ordeal was over. In a moment , many battle shouts were heard, all repeating the same sentence.

**" Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"**

Everyone hopefully observed as tens of fireballs formed around the Red Beast, hitting it everywhere, leaving no place intact. A few newly mint Jounin started to cheer, while the more experienced ones stood silent, in full alert.

A loud growl confirmed the latter ones' suspicions, as the Nine Tailed Demon stood up and sped to a direction opposite the village of Konoha. Only Sarutobi's eyes widened as he realised what that meant.

_' It is following Minato-kun... Someone is controlling it! But who has enough power to do it?'_, was his only thought as he hastily jumped from one branch to another in order to keep up, Naruto safe in his grasp; The one moment he let him go to execute his technique was the longest one of his life; He would be damned if he did it again.

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The young Hokage had almost finished the preparations he needed to make; He had drawn a sealing circle on the ground to allow his technique to instantly force Kyuubi's chakra into the seal and was now in the middle of a very long hand seal sequence; Even though it required a significant amount of time to make, it would cost him far less chakra with the hand seals working as buffers; He knew he would need every bit of his available chakra to manipulate the chakra made beast.

It was then that he felt it; The horrible sensation associated with the vile being told him only one thing; It was coming for him.

_' I'm not nearly ready yet! Fuck, I need to do the whole sequence, I can't risk an unsuccessful sealing!'_, he gritted his teeth as the earth began trembling due to the beast's dash. Looking up, Minato saw something that surprised him, but was logical if one sat and thought about it: The Kyuubi's eyes were a red with three tomoe around the now round pupil.

_'A Sharingan? And it can control Kyuubi so effectively that even Sarutobi-sama's Seika won't work against it? Impossible!'_

Spotting him, the Red Beast moved three of its tails over him in order to squash him like a harmless bug. Namikaze Minato was far more agile than that; He had more than enough time to dodge and get some safe distance, his sequence nearly half complete. Letting out another menacing growl that promised a painful death, Kyuubi once more attacked, this time using Four tails. Having to cover more distance than before, the young Hokage was a bit more pressured but dealt with it admirably, his face calm as ever . He was inwardly smirking, however, as his hand seals were almost all performed. Dodging yet another blow, he help on to one last handesal as he started to speak with a triumphant look on his face.

**" Fuuinjutsu: Shik-"**, he was interrupted by the cry of a baby.

During his time in combat situations, he had learned to shut out everything distracting around him; Cries for help from his injured beyond salvation allies, cries for mercy from his enemies; But this cry was one he would never allow himself to shut out; His son's. That moment of distraction was all he cunning fox needed. With a piercing howl, it sent all nine of its tails after him, blocking him from every possible way.

Minato cursed his own luck; His seals were not one way portals like many of his compatriots liked to think; They were expendable, one use seals that burned all the chakra they were infused with to guide the user to the place they were placed. Having placed no seals on the surrounding area in order to finish the sealing process faster, Minato did the only thing he could now: Tried to complete the sealing. As he was about to call out his technique again , he felt a very sharp pain in his stomach, signalling he was out of time.

In the fractions of a second that were between the arrival of the first tail and that of the other eight, only one thought flashed on his mind.

' Kushina-chan, Naruto... I love you...Konoha...I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to protect you...'

As his eyes closed, darkness took him in its cold embrace.

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Sarutobi felt his legs failing him as he watched Minato get hit by Kuubi's tails; When he pulled them back, there was nothing left to suggest that the man was ever there, but the old Hokage could tell; His chakra had not moved from its place the whole time. There was no other explanation other than the obvious, but his heart could not believe it. Cold sweat covered him as he thought of the current situation; The Hokage who was about to seal the Kyuubi had just died.; Sarutobi himself also knew the same technique, being the Professor, but he had spent almost all his chakra into the Shinkaton attacks to buy time for the sealing to take place; His subordinates were all around him, but they were in worse condition than him, having fought the Beast for even longer than he did.

There was nothing to protect Konoha against Kyuubi's wrath.

Flashing his fangs to everyone in the vicinity, the Red Beast targeted the man nearest to it; Sarutobi and, by extension, Naruto.

Lowering its front legs, Kyuubi used only one tail against its victim, wanting to play with them a bit before killing them. The former 'God of Shinobi' was no more young and agile; He barely had time to move to the right avoiding the tail that slammed the ground, causing a mild earthquake. Naruto started crying non-stop, surprising the old Hokage with its stamina; Usually newborns tended to be too tired and powerless to even blink an eye, much less to start crying.

The sadistic fox now brought its tail into a sweeping motion, making the Hokage to jump in order to avoid it; Which is what it was aiming for from the start; Using another one of its tails , it went in to slam them head on, knowing it's impossible to miss in mid-air.

Sarutobi could do nothing but look at the tail too surprised and too exhausted to react in time.

_' So this is the end? How shameful... For a mere beast and its master to defeat two Hokages in one night...'_

All the Jounin and ANBU class ninja watched as their Hokage was about to be hit head on by the Beast. Even one of them who attempted a defensive earth jutsu would not make it in time. What happened next shocked everyone to their very core.

A minuscule blast of white fire was shot from Sarutobi's direction, its flames more white than anyone had ever seen; Even more than the ones located in the Seika tree, which were considered to be the purest form of Sacred Flame. The fox was equally hurt and surprised; It certainly had not braced itself for this kind of attack, which is partly why it worked.

_' Was this...The boy?'_, The silver haired ANBU member silently considered as others around him had similar thoughts. _' It must be... I know Sarutobi-sama needs seals to use the Shinkaton...And its form is not nearly as pure as this one...'_

Retracting its tail back, the Bijuu howled once more to intimidate everyone around it as it sent its eight remaining tails against the boy now. Sarutobi looked to his hands to check Naruto's condition; He was relieved to see that he was only sleeping from exhaustion and nothing more serious. With the attacks approaching though, it did not make much of a difference; Holding the boy tight in his lap, the older man braced himself for the blow.

It never came.

Landing on the ground safely, the Hokage was in for one more surprise; Right in front of him stood a being resembling a man in his late forties, with white hair and a small beard; His clothes were very similar to his own Hokage robes , only purely white: And the most important of all, he was engulfed in the Seika, the purest form which was comparable to the one the blond had released previously.

Sizing up his opponent, his facial expression did not change in the slightest; " So it is you the humans have been dealing with ... It seems that ever since you have been separated , you have been causing more damage than when you where whole...". The fox just showed its teeth and growled.

Turning his gaze to the far right, into the woods, he man spoke again. " So you lived after all...I honestly thought my first Student of Konoha had taken care of you ...Madara-san...Alas , it is not my place to kill you...".

The Hokage snapped out of his amazement first and asked the man in front of him.

" Who...Are you?".

" I have many names, depending on the age and the place...You, I suppose, know me as the Will of Fire, although Kagutsuchi is my personal favourite..."

"You mean you are the one..."

The man sighed, not amused by the dumbfounded looks on everyone's' face." I have come here because I wanted to satisfy my curiosity... Someone used a part of my purest form of power, without my consent no less. I assume it's the boy you are holding Sarutobi-san?"

A loud roar escaped Kyuubi's mouth once again and Kagutsuchi took immediate action; Holding up his right hand, he pointed at the Beast's head with his thumb, index and middle finger extended. A Kanji appeared on the Kyuubi's forehead. which seemed to paralyse it.

" Fire.." , many of the shinobi around them whispered in awe. (**AN**: This is the Kanji : 火 )

" I have never met anyone that could manipulate my Seika without me granting him the power to do so...", said the man engulfed in flames," I think it's best that your original plan is carried out... I believe that the only one to be able to fully control it is this little boy... Maybe the greatest Seika manipulator after me..."

Stretching out his left hand in a similar manner as the right one and the same Kanji appeared on Naruto's right eye, which was closed now. Bringing his hands together, the shinobi and the 'God of Shinobi' watched equally amazed as the Kyuubi no Kitsune was sucked into the Kanji-seal, its power strong as the whole design was now aflame, doused in the Sacred Fire. A few moments after the whole creature was sealed, the fire on the seal began to fade slowly before disappearing out of existence completely, no evidence that it was ever there.

" I will go now... Sarutobi-san, take care of the boy in your arms... He might just be the one to change the future of the world..." And with those words he left , gone just like his Seika, in a flash.

The crowd slowly began moving cautiously towards the boy; They knew he held the Kyuubi no Kitsune inside him now, but that did not scare them at all; After all their Will of Fire performed the Sealing, and He could not fail. No, the reason they acted like they did was as not to wake the boy up, as a sign of reverence to his person.

As they gathered close to him, the one ANBU in the cat mask merely said. " He is kind of cute..", which sounded weird coming out with an emotionless tone.

As soon as the boy heard speech from so close to him, he opened his eyes to reveal two very different ones. One of them, the left one, was the exact copy of his father's, Minato , while the other was just like the one the Kyuubi displayed at first: A red slitted eye that was infinitely out of place considering the boy's smiling face.

Yet another one of the Jounin spoke, in a more formal manner. Looking at the boy fondly, he only said one simple thing, yet the hardest to say of all.

" Thank you for your Sacrifice...Blessed One."

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**Author's Notes**

Quick Japanese Mythology Lesson: Kagutsuchi vs the Mangekyo Three ( Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo)

Izanami no Mikoto and Izanagi no Mikoto were two beings summoned by the first gods; They had Children and one of them was Kagutsuchi (incarnation of fire), who during his birth killed his mother, Izanami no Mikoto. Izanagi no Mikoto went to the underworld to save her, and to cut long story short, she was beyond salvation. When he returned from the Underworld, he wanted to cleanse himself, so when he washed his face , three gods 'fell' from his face... Guess who?

Amaterasu- Left eye

Tsukuyomi- Right eye

Susanoo - Nose ( Yep, you heard that right!)

What is more interesting though is that the eyes corresponding to each god are the same as the ones Sasuke has as powers in his eyes, meaning that Sasuke's left eye controls the Amaterasu and right one his Tsukuyomi as opposed to Itachi who had them the other way around even though he is the first character to display those powers; It's a pity Susanoo isn't activated by the user's nose, it would be hilarious to see Sasuke asking Madara for a nose job along with the eye transplant.

Shinkaton : The reason behind the name.

Well, it's simple actually, Seika means Sacred Fire, but because Seikaton doesn't sound very nice to my ears, I decided to take the word Sacred , or Shinsei and took the first half of it and joined it with the canon Katon to make Shinkaton. I have to say at this point that my knowledge in Japanese is non-existent so anyone who sees something wrong with the translations would be truly welcome to point it out either in his/her review, PM or whichever way he/she wants.

About Naruto's appearance.

Yes, due to the different sealing method used Naruto does not have Whisker marks on his face! Sorry to anyone that liked them!  
Instead, he has the Kanji( I hope I am saying the right type of Japanese writing!), for Fire on his Right eye - 火  
Now to imagine exactly how it looks, think of it as a burn mark , and that it appears as a whole only when the eye is closed. The center of the three lines is roughly where his pupil is when he is looking straight forward, the three lines stretching on his upper cheek and his brow respectively. I hope it makes that clear! I honestly can't think of a better way to describe its placement!


	2. Chapter 2: Uzumaki Naruto

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own the anime or manga Naruto in any way, shape or form!**

**A Few Words**

A thank you to everyone that read this story so far, a bigger to those that added it to their Fav's or Alerts list, and the biggest yet to those that took the time to review: **deltabeta26, Dragon Soul Weaver, The Grand Hookia**

My responses:

**deltabeta26**: Thanks for the support and ideas you provided, I hope the story continues in a way that you enjoy!

**Dragon Soul Weaver**: Glad you like it! I plan to continue this story ,of course, and update at least once every two weeks, but it may be much sooner than that, depending on my inspiration and mood.

**The Grand Hookia**: Haha, I guess I couldn't avoid the Deus ex Machina a bit. Well, it's not that surprising if you think that my people actually 'invented' it! Anyway, I hope that you continue to find this story interesting!

Moving on the next chapter of **The Living Fire's Will** _by Vorgonaz_

**Chapter 2: Uzumaki Naruto**

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It was early morning in the village Hidden under the Leaves; The Sun had just decided to illuminate the world again as a young blond sat up from his small bed. A yawn , accompanied with a good stretch, was the usual way he greeted each new day; Standing up, still half asleep, the boy looked with barely open eyes in front of him.

" Morning Kaa-san...", he tried to stifle yet another yawn as his mother greeted him a warm welcome, energetic as ever.

" Good morning Naru-chan! Sit down, I prepared breakfast..."

" Oh come on, Kaa-san! I'm already twelve, way too old for you to call me like that!", Naruto said as he slightly pouted; His mother giggled in response. " Well, you should know it by now; To me you will always be Naru-chan no matter how old you are!"

" Right , right..." , he knew he had already lost the battle and decided to withdraw with his remaining dignity. As he silently began to devour his food, Kushina spoke again, her sweet attitude gone, replaced by the professional ninja look.

" Hokage-Sama has asked you to meet him at his office, one hour from now... Don't be late", her facial features visibly hardened, showing her seriousness.

The blond just nodded. " I wonder what it is this time... Maybe one of the Shinkaton lessons again... I haven't had those in a good while...".

" You'll find out soon enough, don't think about it too much honey.". Standing up, the young woman took her son's plate and moved to wash it. " I need to go soon... I think I mentioned it before, a new class will attend the academy this year and I was chosen to teach them."

Not responding to her statement, the blond silently went back to his room to change into his usual outfit, a long sleeved white hooded shirt with one orange line stretching from the top of his shoulders all the way to each sleeve. His pants were plain black while orange bandage-like cloth was wrapped around his lower shins that ended with his black shinobi-like sandals. The blond did not bother to use the hood on his shirt; He had long ago come to terms with the fact that his unkempt hair could not be restrained.

Glancing at the mirror, he saw the familiar kanji on his face; He was ,unconsciously by now, keeping his right eye closed at all times; Even the sight of it disturbed him greatly after he was told the truth about what it meant.

_' Kyuubi... The old man told me that the Seika could control it, but if it did, why did they have to seal it in me?...'_ This one question that plagued his mind for years had never been answered in the slightest, no matter how many times he had asked the Third and his mother. Hearing his mother leave the apartment, he snapped out of his thoughts and moved to mimic her.

o-o

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Several heads turned towards the blond's direction as he was walking in a leisurely pace to the Hokage's office; Wherever he looked, many smiling faces greeted him, some even lowered their heads slightly in a sign of respect. He politely returned their smiles with his own. A small group of children noticed him and excitedly ran towards him., the apparent leader, a boy not older than eight, reached him first.

" Good Morning Naruto-niisan!", he said, his blue scarf still in mid-air from the speed . The blond turned to see who it was, a grin forming on his face as soon as he did.

" Hey Konohamaru, what's up?". By now the two other children had caught up with them, glaring at the smaller boy for his behaviour.

" You should not address Uzumaki-sama like that Konohamaru!", a young girl with red hair in two ponytails berated him, while the other one, a black haired boy with glasses, nodded slowly.

" These are Moegi...", he pointed at the girl, "... and this one here is Udon. We are going to be in the same class in the Academy this year! Jiji told me yesterday !".

Naruto looked fondly at his friends antics before patting his head. " Shouldn't you be on your way then? I think my mom will be your teacher and she is on her way to the Academy now...". The three children's' faces slowly started to reflect their horror as they began to think of the nearest route to class. Before moving, however, the little gang's leader spoke again, this time in a much more hesitant tone.

" Naruto-niisan... Moegi and Udon have never seen the Seika up close... It is forbidden for everyone except the Hokage to touch the Sacred Flame on the tree and Jiji did not want to show us his... Them! I meant them!", he swallowed his last words, trying to cover up his small lie. Naruto just grinned; Focusing on his now open palm, one word was in his mind.

_' Shinkaton'_

The three soon-to-be Academy students looked in awe as a pure white flame formed in their friend's palm; As it slowly moved, following the morning breeze, they were captivated by its perfect form and the warmth it emanated . Several bystanders unconsciously smiled too, its effect reaching them too. Konohamaru moved his hand near it, and after a nod from the blond, he placed his hand right on top of the white form.

" It...doesn't burn at all... But it feels weird...In a good way..."; His two friends mimicked him, only to come to the same conclusion.

" It's because the flames will burn only what I want burned, nothing else; Especially not my friends!", the Uzumaki simply explained as he had their full attention. Closing his palm, he continued." Don't tell me you forgot about the Academy already? I wouldn't want to be late if I were you; My mother is ruthless to anyone who is!"

He laughed a bit as he watched them run with all their might down the street, desperately trying to get to class in time. As he turned to the other side of the road to continue his walk, Naruto heard a voice he identified as Moegi shouting.

" Thank you for everything , Blessed One!"

That one phrase was enough to make his mood drop a few notches, although his face did not betray it in the slightest.

_' I am just Naruto...'_

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" Good Morning, Uzumaki-sama, the Hokage is expecting you, please proceed.", said the Hokage's assistant as the blond boy flashed a smile at her direction before moving forward to the Old Man's office. Opening the door, the heavy smell of tobacco was the first to greet him ; Stepping inside the small, book-filled room, he closed the door and spoke up.

" Hello Hokage-sama, you requested my presence?", he inquired in his most formal tone. The elder's figure stood there, giving him no sign of acknowledgement . After a few minutes, the blond finally laughed a bit before attempting to converse again. " You always were better at this Jiji... Why did you want me here?". The man in front of him smiled as he emptied the contents of his pipe in the ash tray.

" As I'm sure you know, your graduation from the Academy is in a few days... I want to inform you about a few things that you should be aware of now..." Looking up to confirm he had the boy's attention, the elder continued.

" Everyone in Konoha knows that the Will of Fire performed the Sealing of the Kyuubi no Yoko inside you , child... But only a few that were there during the event know exactly what happened; Kagutsuchi, as it called itself, appeared in front of us all; He briefly talked to the Bijuu and someone else...". Naruto had his eyes glued to the man as he continued.

" It mentioned that the Kyuubi is a part of something bigger; We can safely assume that the Tailed Beasts have a deeper connection than what we initially thought...It also addressed a man who we thought was long gone...Uchiha Madara, one of the founders of Konoha."

Naruto's burrowed in his attempt to understand what the Hokage was saying.

_' Uchiha...Like Sasuke...'_. After having gotten his thoughts in order , the blond responded in a tone that revealed his reservations about that subject.

" What do you mean by that Jiji? Konoha was founded more than eighty years ago! He would be at least a hundred years old now... Even if he is still alive, he can't possibly be a threat!". Sarutobi slowly took a breath; He expected something like this from the boy; He had been training him in the shinobi arts for some years now, so he knew him like the palm of his own hand.

" That is not so , Naruto... We have also concluded that he was the one to bring the Kyuubi here; He was even able to command it to attack your father when he attempted his sealing technique...", the Third trailed off, while Naruto was looking at the floor, reaching his own conclusions. His eyes widened as he made a simple connection.

" Then the Uchiha massacre...", he desperately waited for the man he thought of a grandfather deny it; Deny that the extermination of a whole clan was his own doing.

His wait was in vain.

Tightening his fists, he continued in a strangely calm tone. " Why are you telling me all this? "

" I will not tell you anything about the Uchiha... incident... But you need to know the fact that Madara might still have the ability to control the Kyuubi even while it is inside you; That is precisely why I need you to be on alert in missions, and to have your seal covered at all times; He could be anywhere and his battle abilities are unknown to us... Do you have any questions before I proceed ?". The boy glared at him before responding.

" If there is such a high risk why would you even send me on missions?". The blond barely mouthed the words; He certainly wanted to be assigned missions, but he could not help wanting to see his Hokage's motives behind his choice.

" It would be a risk indeed to be found by Madara, but mission experience is of great importance to a shinobi, Naruto; More so to one of such unique skills as you; And I am not referring to the Shinkaton or anything I have taught you..." Not even his last comment managed to satisfy the blond, who expected him to continue. He did. " The possibility of this happening is as likely as for him to enter the village and find you... So there is no real reason for you to be restricted..."

" So you are basically saying that if Madara wants to find me, he will do so no matter where I am...Right?" Seeing the elder man's nod, he simply added." I really don't understand the reason you are using those political speeches today Jiji... You just contradicted yourself...", the old man just smirked at that .

" You must be able to truly understand what someone is saying to you; See the deeper meaning behind their words, as you did now...Well done, Naruto. Now about the second matter of importance..". Seeing no objection from the blond, he moved on.

" This year we have decided to break the norm and have the three top students form one special team, mainly because we have found a very rare and efficient combination that has worked in the past.", While still mouthing the words, the Fire Shadow's mind was another thought.

_' I just hope that this team's future is not the same...'_

" Who are the other two?", asked a now impatient Naruto; He really was counting on some good news to counter what he had just heard.

" Uchiha Sasuke, the only loyal Uchiha inside the village, and Haruno Sakura, who, even though is not a part of a clan, has near perfect chakra control." At the boy's confused look, he continued. " We have for a long time created teams for specific purposes; Teams with members excelling at tracking others, close-quarters combat teams with long range support techniques and so on... Your team is nothing like them; You, Naruto, are a very formidable close range fighter with many strong long range attacks with the use of your Shinkaton, Sasuke Uchiha will soon awaken his special eye that will enable him to act in part as a tracker in addition to all his close and long range skills. Lastly, Haruno Sakura will begin immediately her studies under a skilled Medic-nin, as well as genjutsu training from our best specialists."

Naruto liked the Hokage's idea; He had a friendly rivalry thing going on with the Uchiha since the first day in the Academy, even though he had changed a lot these last years. Sakura, on the other hand, had been his crush for a few years, but he had gotten over her lately, so he did not mind her company at all. As soon as the anxiety from learning who is going to be in his team faded, another thing came to the surface.

_' He said the last loyal Uchiha inside the village... Why 'add the inside the village' part? Maybe this means Itachi is still loyal to us... But what happened during the Massacre? Did Itachi do it after all? Or was it Madara; He was about to destroy the whole village using the Kyuubi...Anything is just as possible with Jiji's earlier answer...'_

The Third noticed the boy in front of him was focused on his thoughts; He was the 'Professor' after all, nothing escaped his gaze. He gave him a few more moments before talking again. " I hope you try your best Naruto; We are going to spend valuable resources to train each of you specifically; Almost all the Jounin-sensei that are assigned teams from your class will also take part in your training... We are prepared to further provide you with knowledge even in the more ...unorthodox... shinobi methods to be able to overcome all kinds of opposition."

The Uzumaki grinned. " Heh, you know me Jiji... I will do my best to..". He could not finish as the man in front of him cut in.

" Make the Uzumaki name the most well known in the Shinobi world, I know, child... I have been hearing this for years...You say that, but I don't know what brought it about... You are the most well known person in the village next to me; The son of the Fourth and Seika's Blessed One..." He mentally sighed as he knew what would follow; They had this conversation every time they met; Somehow, all of their conversations ended in a similar manner.

" Yes these are parts of me, and I am proud of them, but they are just that; Parts ... My aim is to make my whole self known to everyone, not just my heritage or abilities... Ironically , the only way to do that is through my abilities!", he smiled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head at the last sentence.

" If you have nothing else to add... I have to tend to my most hated enemy: Paperwork." He pointed to the nearby stack that was on the floor and reached the desk's height. The young boy shrugged as he began to make his way to the door. Looking back at the old man, he decided to make a suggestion.

" Hey Jiji, why don't you use the Kage-Bunshin you taught me a few days ago to do the work for you?" . He really wondered why would there be any workers, since a single shinobi could make fifty copies of himself and do the job instantly and without even breaking a sweat.

The old man, however, did not share his opinion apparently, as he looked at the boy as if he had grown another head." Are you mad boy? If I did that, all the clone's experience with the dreaded paper would come instantly once he was dispelled; I would probably die from a heart-attack!"

The boy paled; He could have accidentally killed the village's leader with his advice._' But that experience return once the Kage-Bunshin is dispelled part sure sounds useful...'._

He put that thought in the back of his mind before opening the door and vanishing from the old man's sight, who was now holding the only effective weapon against the paperwork : A quill full of deadly black ink on its tip.

o-o

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The boy stretched as he exited the Hokage's Tower; Judging by the Sun's position, he estimated it was almost noon by now. He smiled as one one thought reigned above all others in his mind.

_' Good it's almost noon; Ramen time!'. _Of course, those who knew him were sure that to the boy, all time was ramen time. Putting his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face, he slowly paced towards his favourite place in Konoha excluding his house: The Ichiraku's Ramen Bar.

It took him no more than five minutes to finally see the huge sign next to the shop. " Ichiraku's: The best place to eat in Konoha according to the Blessed One!"

The boy smirked as he saw it; He remembered back when he first visited them, the whole shop was not even one fourth the size it was today, although he wasn't sure whether that was because of the new costumers his fame brought them, or the actual amount of ramen he consumed every time he went there.

_' Probably the last one!'_, he thought with a small smile as he used his hand to move the cloth aside and enter the stand. Spotting his favourite seat empty, he hastily sat down, his mouth watering with just the smell coming from the nearby bowls and the kitchen. It wasn't long before a cute girl a few years his senior appeared in front of him, her hands cradling pencil and paper, ready to take his order. Flashing him a warm smile before speaking, she leaned towards him a bit from behind the counter he was sitting in front of.

" Hi there, Naruto-kun! What would you like today? We have really good shrimp ramen today! The fresh shrimps from Wave Country really make a difference!"

The blond returned her smile, " Nah , I'll pass on that Ayame-chan; I'm too faithful to my precious miso ramen to even consider betraying it! Ten large bowls with extra pork please!" The brown haired girl giggled at his comment before leaving prepare his food. Impatient, as always when it came to ramen, the blond started to observe his surroundings a bit; The place sure was full, even for its normal standards. He had no time to think on it anymore, as his nostrils caught a whiff of the most perfect smell possible; His hand moved on its own accord and grabbed a pair of chop sticks.

"Itadakimasu!"

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Time passes really fast for people who are having a good time. That was the conclusion Naruto had reached quite a while back and was not glad to see that still held true. It had been two hours since he started eating at the Ichiraku's and the chatting with Ayame and some of the other customers was interesting enough for him to stay for a lot longer than he expected. Still carrying the smile he had while he was inside the stand, the young Uzumaki looked at the distance; Four faces were looking at four different directions, yet to him, they all seemed that their gaze was focused on his person.

_' Mom won't be back from the Academy for a few hours, so I still have time to spend... Having stopped the classes to allow us to get prepared for the final exam was a good idea on the teachers' part!'_

Taking his time, the blond moved to the Hokages' Monument; Along the way he saw many shinobis, of all ranks and ages, and the occasional civilian heading the same way. For the Konoha shinobi and the believers of the Will of Fire, a daily visit to the Seika tree to pray was tradition. It was said among the people that the Fire observes all of them, deciding to give its gift , the Shinkaton, to the one it finds the most worthy; True enough, all the Hokages since the First had been chosen that way; A leaf floated on their right palm, giving them its power. Naruto knew that It had chosen his father over one of the Third's apprentices many years ago. The fact that he had seemingly been chosen at birth without even touching the Sacred Flames meant a lot to those people; It was partly the reason why everyone treated him with reverence.

Not everyone was blessed by the Fire in the exact same way; The Third Hokage received the strongest connection on to it. Although the Flame inherently had the ability to control the Bijuu, only the Third was able to control one fully relying only on it. He had heard the rest of the three Hokages' Fire had other, different strengths, even though he did not know which they were; He could not help wondering what unique ability his Seika held, since it had so far displayed nothing to separate it from the rest, except its higher purity.

The sight of one of Konoha's most commonly visited places interrupted his train of thoughts; The Tree stood there, majestic as ever, untouched by time, the smaller branches moving slowly thanks to the wind that also made the flames burn even more intensively. Standing right next to the natural symbol, the blond gently touched its trunk with his hand, before closing his eyes and silently making one simple request to the Fire, in a childish hope that it would grant it.

_' Please, let everyone be happier tomorrow than they were today...'_

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**Author's Note**

Thanks for reading the next chapter of **The Living Fire's Will **_by Vorgonaz_

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! To all those who added this story to their Alerts or Fav's list ( Who, I admit, were more than I expected!) , I hope that this second chapter was to your liking! I know it was more of an informative one, but some things have to be explained before the action takes place, right?

If anyone is interested in beta reading this story, please send me a PM, I would love to have a chat with you! Don't be alarmed if it takes time for me to respond; The time difference is a pain in the ass!

If you enjoyed this chapter, please take a minute to review. I am eager to hear your opinion regarding this story, my writing skills ( Or lack of thereof!) , and anything that you would like to share!

Lastly, I received a PM from someone who was asking me whether this story is going to be a Yaoi, because he really liked the intro and would like to know before it got to the main plot. To make this clear, I am not interested in writing Yaoi stories, because I am not into them. Sorry to those who are disappointed! This will be a Narutox 1 Female character pairing, even though the story will be the main focus of this fic.


	3. Chapter 3: Team Zero

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own the anime or manga Naruto in any way, shape or form!**

**A Few Words**

A thank you to everyone that read this story so far, a bigger to those that added it to their Fav's or Alerts list, and the biggest yet to those that took the time to review: **Wyrtha, j2kool3816, Sori-Akuma no Musei, jinlai, ArashiKage Naruto, justbin**

My answers:

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**Wyrtha**: Glad you liked it.

**j2kool3816**: I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

**Sori-Akuma no Musei**: It's nice to know you liked the deviations from canon. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter!

**jinlai**: Thanks!

**ArashiKage Naruto**: Thanks again for your support, it's great to know there's someone out there that enjoys my stories so much!

**justbin**: Yeah, last chapter's goal was to show Naruto's living conditions and the vastly different way he was treated. Things will pick up from this chapter on though, hopefully in a way you readers enjoy!

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Moving on to the next chapter of **The Living Fire's Will** _by Vorgonaz_

**Chapter 3: Team Zero**

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_' So this is it...Starting today , I am a shinobi of the Leaf...Finally!'_. His hand reached the door and carefully moved it aside as the entire class became visible; Many boys and girls his age were sitting at the desks, chatting with each other, displaying their Konoha headband with pride. Closing the door behind him, Naruto Uzumaki looked around for an empty seat; He spotted two; One next to a dark blue haired pale eyed girl he knew as Hinata Hyuuga and another next to a pink haired one with slightly more tanned skin; Haruno Sakura. He smirked as he noticed the person next to her.

_' I might as well go talk to them now; It's only a matter of time before the teams are announced after all.'_

"Hey there Sakura-chan! How are you today?", he politely asked as he sat next to her. The girl shifted her eyes from Sasuke's direction and looked at the blond, faintly smiling at him while mouthing an appropriate reply.

" I'm really happy Naruto-san! I get to be in the same team as Sasuke-kun! And you, of course.", she added the last phrase as an afterthought, something that did not surprise Naruto at all; It was no secret among the whole class that Sakura, along with many other girls, had a crush for his soon-to-be teammate. Of course, it was also obvious that Sasuke wanted nothing to do with any of them; Naruto had noticed that he spent most of his time training since the loss of his family.

_' Mass murder actually..... By his brother no less...'_. He sighed at the thought; Despite all the issues the raven haired boy might have had, Naruto knew first hand that he was a formidable shinobi, as the spars between the two boys were a rare sight among the students, both for the techniques displayed and the time it took for the winner to be decided. If they managed to cooperate well, they could surely be a successful battle duo; Adding Sakura to the equation, with her supporting genjutsu jutsus and medical knowledge, the blond actually wondered why would the Hokage choose to form specialized teams as opposed to all-around balanced ones like his.

A cloud of smoke snapped him out of his thoughts and signalled everyone to calm down and pay attention; A young man with a scar running across his nose's bridge was standing in front of them, scroll in hand.

" Good morning class. I am proud of each and every one of you here for becoming a genin.". Many boys crossed their hands with a confident smile at that, while one of the girls raised her hand to speak. Receiving a nod from the older man, she said in a hesitant and a tad worried tone; " Iruka-sensei, I thought Mizuki-sensei would be here today too... I wanted to talk to him about something he asked me to do yesterday..."

Iruka's expression hardened. He had prepared a speech for the occasion, mainly to try and prepare them for the real shinobi world, but this incident probably was the best way to get to them.

" Mizuki-sensei tried to steal a Forbidden Scroll yesterday, one with Konoha's valuable secrets, to sell it to another Hidden Village in exchange for special benefits and probably money. Thankfully, he was discovered before it was too late and the ANBU retrieved the Scroll safely, while Mizuki himself is... not with us anymore." He remained silent as the gasps of the students could be heard all around the room. After they settled down again, he continued.

" The reason I am telling you this is because it is the most important lesson of all; Be loyal to the Leaf first, then to your fellow Konoha-nins. There are many temptations in this world and even some shinobi will inevitably succumb to them; When that time comes, you must do what needs to be done regardless of who that person might have been to you in the past; Remember, the moment that a Leaf ninja decides to abandon Konoha, he is dead to us....". His piercing gaze sealed those words inside all his present audience that still looked at him with surprise and shock.

His facial expression changed back to cheerful as fast as it had become relentless mere moments before; He gently opened the scroll in his palm and started announcing the teams. Many were disappointed at their team's members, mainly because they did not include Sasuke, the cool genius. A smaller number of students were also saddened by the fact that Naruto was not with them, as he was really kind and a fun person to be around, as well as one of the strongest there.

"...Last but not least, Team Zero, consisting of Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

The complaints were immediate. Many of the boys even stood up in protest to emphasize their point.

" What is this Sensei? You can't put the three top students in one team! How are these teams balanced?", howled a boy about Naruto's height with a white jacket sporting a fur lining; A purple fang adorned each his cheeks. Everyone showed their support for him by either nodding or yelling.

" ENOUGH! Be silent!", the irritation was evident in Iruka's voice as he watched the children settle down again; He took a deep breath before explaining. " The formation of Team Zero was a direct order from our Great Hokage, Sarutobi-sama. If you have any objections, feel free to make an appointment with him and express your complaints in a civilized manner; If you so want, you may even give them in writing!". Seeing their faces, the older teacher regretted his actions.

_' Damn that Mizuki....I shouldn't have these kinds of outbursts in front of the kids, they are not to blame...'_. He waited for a moment while trying to regain his composure and spoke in a much calmer voice. " Your senseis will arrive shortly; We will wait here until they do."

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Naruto was trying his hardest to remain still; He had been sitting in front of the same desk, facing the same empty blackboard for over three hours now, along with his new teammates.

_' I can't believe Iruka-sensei of all people left us here right after that red eyed Kunoichi picked up her team.... I guess he knew that our teacher would be late.....'_. The words were spinning inside Naruto's mind as he lazily supported his head with his left hand. Glancing a few sits to the right, he noticed that Sakura wasn't fairing much better either; The glare she was giving the classroom door was one that promised a slow and agonizing death, probably reserved for the sensei that was supposed to enter it.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was his usual stoic self; The young Uzumaki could never tell what was going on inside his mind, or if he was in a good mood. Deciding not to stare at him anymore, lest risk someone come to a wrong conclusion, he started thinking about his sensei's words.

_'Be loyal to the Leaf first and then to your teammates.....Sounds logical and the best way to protect our home but.... Why does it sound so uncomfortable to even think it?'_. He glanced back at each of his new teammates for a brief minute.  
_' Could I do it? I have known them for years.... Would I be able to do it if they acted like Mizuki-sensei did?'_

He heard the door slide open, revealing a silver haired man with gravity defying hair, a mask covering his mouth and his Konoha headband covering his left eye looking at them, his visible eye showing boredom.

"Yo! Meet me on the roof...", he said before bursting, spreading smoke all around him.

" A Kage Bunshin....Couldn't he just send one to tell us earlier that he would be late?", came the voice of an irritated Sakura. while Naruto just shrugged before exiting the classroom, following Sasuke who was already on his way to the stairs.

Finally seeing the sky, all three of them saw the masked man, expecting him to start the conversation. And so he did.

" What is a shinobi?", he suddenly asked and pointed Sakura. " You first, pinkie...". Ignoring the comment for her future's sake, she answered immediately. " A Shinobi is a living tool in the service of his or her employer, mainly used for spying, assassination and infiltration purposes."

Showing no sign of being satisfied with the answer, he simply looked at the one sitting next to the pink haired girl.

"Next."

Uchiha Sasuke thought about for a minute. " A shinobi is one who has the power to kill the mistakes of the past and prevent them from happening in the future."

"Next."

The blond Uzumaki smiled as he spoke. " A shinobi is one who has the power to help to protect those he care about."

Silence fell after his little speech. Even Sasuke was a bit unnerved at the whole situation they were in. Kakashi noticed their discomfort but did not try to make it easier for them. Instead, he chose to analyse them for one more minute while thinking on their answers.

_' So...I have a book-smart girl , an avenger and an idealist to deal with...Not a good combination...'_

"I am Hatake Kakashi and I will act as your primary Jounin-sensei from now on...I trust that you have all been briefed on the specifics of your team?". Seeing their nods, he calmly continued." Good. It is usual to test each team before they are allowed to become a genin squad, but since Hokage-sama has decreed that you are to be an official team, it is pointless to be tested; Meet me tomorrow morning, five o'clock sharp at the Training Field 27. Any questions?"

Sakura raised her hand.

" You do not need to do that anymore; If you need to speak, ask for a permission verbally... And you may speak now.", despite the blush that portrayed her shame, her voice was sturdy.

"Who answered the question correctly, Kakashi-sensei?". She regretted asking, as the man frowned in response.

" There is no right or wrong answer, Haruno Sakura; Every shinobi fights for his own reasons, has his own ways... Probably each of the Shinobi Konoha has would give a different answer to this question..."

" And what is your answer Sensei?" came the question from Sakura's blond teammate. He considered it for a moment before answering.

" To me, a true Shinobi is one who never abandons his teammates, no matter what he has to go through to get them."

" But Iruka-sensei told us just a few hours ago that we must first be loyal to the Leaf and then to the rest of the Konoha shinobi...." the pink haired girl responded this time.

" As I said, there is no right or wrong here, no matter what they would like you to believe... Be true to yourselves and find what being a Shinobi means to you....", he disappeared again in puff of smoke, finishing his sentence in his mind.

_' Before it is too late...'_

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" So tell me Naruto-kun, how was your day? Who is going to be your Jounin-sensei?", a smiling Kushina said as she placed a bowl of food in front of her son and sat on the opposite side of the table.

" Well, it was ok , I guess.... Our sensei is called Kakashi something , I think...", a thoughtful expression formed on the young Uzumaki's face as he tried to think the rest of the name; Kushina's smile grew considerably bigger.

" You mean Hatake Kakashi, a silver haired man with a mask and his headband covering his left eye?". Naruto nodded.

" As expected of Sarutobi-sama... You should know Naruto-kun, that he was your father's student when he was still a genin!". The blond's jaw slacked open at that last phrase.

" You are kidding , right? If he was, wouldn't I have met him already? I mean, where was he hiding all these years?...", he burrowed his eyebrows as he continued. " And he did not really seem all that happy to see me you know....". The older woman just lowered her gaze to see see the table , her smile fading rapidly each second.

" Yes....Kakashi-kun has been through a lot in his life....It is only natural that he appears a bit distant at first; Once you get to know him, however, you will see how nice he is...". Naruto understood from her tone that she was not comfortable speaking about it and decided to change the subject.

" How is the new class coming along? I guess Konohamaru is a quite a prankster huh?". Kushina giggled in response.

" That's true; He reminds me of myself when I was younger; Always into trouble and rarely caught... I think he looks up to you Naruto-kun; His new outfit is a copy of your own with red instead of orange..."

The boy rubbed the back of his head as he grinned. " Really? I did not think that he would actually go as far as doing that!"

" But he did; I know it's not appropriate, but he is already my favourite student!", she suddenly gave him a glare, " But he doesn't need to know that! You understand Naruto-kun, _right_?". The blond hastily agreed; That glare of his mother could honestly pierce through skin sometimes and he certainly wanted his in one piece.

" Good, good, it's wonderful that we understand each other sweetie!". The blue eyed Uzumaki sighed as she moved away from the table and to the kitchen.

_' I wonder how long it will be until we get to go on a mission far away from the village....Being around Mom just isn't safe sometimes...'_

o---o

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o---o

-THE NEXT DAY, TRAINING GROUND 27-

The sun had not yet made an appearance in the sky as a small figure slowly made its way to another two of about the same size under the not so subtle sounds of constant yawning.

" Good morning, Sakura-chan...Sasuke...", the boy said when he reached his two teammates who were silently standing next to each other, a comfortable distance between them. Sasuke plainly nodded as Sakura smiled a bit and returned the greeting.

Silence reigned supreme after that short greeting, Sakura nervously glancing at Sasuke's direction, trying to find a way to approach him, Sasuke ignoring her and Naruto getting more impatient by the minute. He finally snapped after thirty minutes of waiting and decided to make the first step.

" I have been thinking about what Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei told us yesterday...It's easier to attack someone you don't know at all when it is part of a mission, than to battle one of your fellow Konoha-nins to the death....It sounds impossible to me... " his downcast look showed how serious he was about it and his teammates understood it. Sakura was the first to respond.

" I agree with you Naruto-san...", she looked at Sasuke's direction as she continued,"... I don't think I could do it either....To be honest, I never realised how much the village depended on us, the new generation, until Hokage-sama called me to his office to inform me of the special team we are to form; We must do our best not to let him down!". Naruto smiled at the last sentence while Sasuke moved to speak.

" I agree with Iruka; If one betrays Konoha, he must be dealt with no matter who he is; That is the only way possible....", his tone was the same as always, but his eyes hardened considerably and a slight frown adorned his face. Sakura looked down, while Naruto observed the raven haired boy with sadness; Being the son of the Fourth, he had come to know many of the more prestigious clans' members, and he had met Sasuke together with his brother Itachi right after he entered the Academy.

_' You sure have changed since back then ,Sasuke....'_

" I was beginning to think that you would never talk to each other; Good thing I had some reading material to pass the time..." . They all heard the voice of their sensei coming from a few meters away from them, his eyes glued on a small orange book barring some quick glances he spared for them.

_' So he's been watching us.... I did not notice his presence at all.....'_

_' He must know some really good jutsus , I hope he shares them!'_

_' A Jounin huh?... I doubt he's stronger than Itachi...'_

Seeing their confused faces, the silver haired man put his favourite pastime in his pouch and focused on his students, his one visible eye displaying the epitome of boredom.

" I listened in on your conversation; The fact that you disagree is of no importance, but I will tell you something that you will realise when you are out in the open: The strongest tool available to a Konoha Ninja is Teamwork...".

" ...Hn....". That was the only response he got; His eye closed a bit more as he began to further explain.

" By using an effective strategy , a team would be able to defeat an opponent that each of the members alone could not stand a chance otherwise...". His gaze briefly landed on Sasuke, "...It would be the safest, most secure and successful way of completing a mission...", this time is was Sakura who his eye focused on, " … And finally, you can protect more people by having your team to stand by you and help.". Naruto smiled as Kakashi finished his speech , knowing his words were undoubtedly directed at him.

" Now that we got this over with, tell me about your skills as Shinobi; Normally, I would test you and then fail you, but since I can't do that, I might as well keep the perfect streak in my test..."

The three genins could not help but wince at their sensei's carefree way of saying his test's reputation mattered more than providing them with knowledge, but shrugged it off quickly.

" I might as well start things off! I'm Naruto Uzumaki in case you don't remember; I have been trained occasionally by Jiji in the last two years, mainly focusing on my Taijutsu. I can execute the three Academy jutsus plus the Kage Bunshin no jutsu that the Old Man taught me because he said it would be a fine tool considering the fact that I have much more chakra than a usual ninja my age . Finally, I can manipulate the Seika,.... Ah one last thing, Genjutsu is definitely not my strong point....", the blond boy finished while rubbing the back of his head.

Kakashi nodded; " I have seen your Seika in action; Truly special..... Can you use it efficiently? What about the Kyuubi?". He immediately saw the usually bright blue eyes dim a bit before he heard the Uzumaki's voice.

" I can use the Seika, but it is too chakra consuming even for me; Jiji said that it's most likely because of its high purity, although this last year things have improved quite a bit. I can use maybe two or three attacks before I go from fully rested to completely empty of chakra...As for the Kyuubi, he told me that the Seika could control it, but I have not tried to use it..."

The older man tilted his head and looked at the girl of the group. She did not need any further encouragement.

" I was chosen because of the level of my chakra control and the ability to memorise a large amount of information; Hokage-sama told me I am to be trained as a medic for this team's support and both those skills are of vital importance. I have since then studied many books on human anatomy and learned first aid. On a side note, I am also highly adept at Genjutsu, both in usage and detection."

" Good... And you, Sasuke Uchiha?"

" ...I use mainly my clan's Taijutsu style, which I have learned from the various scrolls in our..." , he frowned as he corrected himself. " ...My library, along with many fire techniques of all ranges."

" And what about your Sharingan?". The raven haired boy did not respond nor avert his gaze away from his teacher.

"I see....", he brought his hand on his chin and started rubbing from above the mask.

_' I read their files; The fact that they did not lie about their skills to sound more impressive is a good start; Now let's confirm one last thing I read concerning Sasuke's last spar...'_

" Sasuke, spar with Naruto; You may use weapons, we have a medic here to take care of things... No Katon and Shinkaton." Naruto smirked and for once Sasuke mimicked him; Sakura ,on the other hand ,was horrified.

" You can't be serious Sensei! I told you I only know the very basics!". Kakashi gave her an eye smile but did not try to calm her down with words. They saw both boys stand opposite each other, dropping into their respective stances.

" Just another day in the Academy , huh Sasuke?", the blond happily shouted as his smirk formed into a grin; Sasuke's own grew a bit.

"Start!"

The two boys headed straight for each other, preparing themselves for the imminent attack. Naruto, the ever impatient one, started with a kick to his team mate's head, who skilfully dodged by lowering his body; He reached for his holster on his leg and pulled out his kunai, taking advantage of his position to make a vertical slash, putting thrust from his whole body upwards.

The Uzumaki saw the movement and brought his hands together in a cross shaped seal; Whispering a small phrase, an identical clone of him appeared right behind him, quickly grabbing him from his hand and pulling him away for the Uchiha; As soon as he landed, he threw the clone at Sasuke's direction, who just used his weapon to stab him in the gut, dispelling him and forming a cloud of smoke in front of him.

The Uchiha had no time react, though, as the blond emerged from the cloud and punched him on his face, making him stumble a few steps back before completely regaining balance. A trickle of blood fell from his lips, which he slowly removed with the back of his hand.

" I think that's good enough for a warm-up, what do you say?", the smile never left the blue eyed boy's face.

" Hn...."

o---o

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o---o

_' Interesting.... each of them seems to have a deep understanding of his opponent's fighting style...'_

" Tell me Sakura, did they spar often during the Academy years?". She just sighed in response.

" Yes.... They were both very skilled in Taijutsu and kept improving at a very fast rate, especially about two years ago; In the end , our instructor had them spar last at every session in order to let us observe them, I guess as a motivation to reach their level...."

" So Naruto improved under the Sandaime's tutelage and Sasuke turned to his family style Taijutsu to counter him...Good thinking on his part, but with one slight miscalculation...".

The pink haired girl next to him turned her attention away from the fight and faced her teacher." What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei? I see both of them doing great..."

" The style he is using relies heavily on his eyes; By observing his opponent's movements, the Uchiha is able to predict his next position and strike accordingly, at least that happens when the eye has fully matured.... In Sasuke's case, the only guides available are his instincts.... The reason his Taijutsu is working successfully is solely because he has been sparring and studying Naruto's way of fighting for years... Unless he awakens his power soon, he will have to find another way to battle while in close range... Which is what this is all about..."

" 'Which is what this is all about'... Isn't this just a spar to see where they stand?"

Kakashi's only response was an eye smile.

o---o

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o---o

Naruto saw three flashing shuriken coming dangerously close to him, the first rays of the sun being reflected on their polished exterior. Pivoting slightly, he saw Sasuke moving behind him with his arm ready to strike his neck; He barely moved out of the way in time and immediately counter attacked using his elbow, but he was, like his teammate, unsuccessful, as the Uchiha hastily jumped back to a safe distance, sending more shuriken his way. He only smiled and decided to try something he usually did not bother doing.

Sasuke was clearly surprised to see the blond not reacting to the projectiles at all, instead opting to remain there waiting for them to reach him. It was then that he noticed it: A few hand seals and Naruto's figure moving at high speed and replacing himself with a nearby trunk; He barely registered the movement from his position to the log and back, but he could see the direction he headed after placing the piece of wood and smirked.

_' There!'_

He tightened his grip around the kunai he was holding and let it fly at the blond's direction. Finally landing back, he located the boy to see if his aim was accurate. He saw the cut on the Uzumaki's cheek, accompanied by a faint smile.

" You're getting better Sasuke....Maybe this is the day...."

" I think it is..."

o---o

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o---o

Sakura watched the whole exchange in awe; She could not see where Naruto had moved to , and doubted any normal person would be able to do so either; But Sasuke not only had, he also managed to hit him.

Kakashi decided to explain his reasons now that finally it was clear that Sasuke was making progress.

" One of the Sharingan's basic uses is tracking high-speed movements...By practising with techniques like the Kawarimi no jutsu and the normal Bunshin no jutsu, one can 'train' the eye to become accustomed to he speed; This , in turn, helps the activation of the Sharingan bloodline limit that is available to the Uchiha clan..."

" So Sasuke-kun is about to activate his Sharingan then? ...He's so amazing....", a soft smile formed on her face and a blush covered her cheeks, while Kakashi mentally sighed for yet another time today.

'_ She said she'd take the position she's been given seriously , but I guess girls her age are mostly interested in boys after all....Then again, maybe it's a bit too early to judge.....I hope she proves my thoughts wrong....'_

o---o

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The two boys had by now abandoned kunais and shurikens and were fighting in a close range match, their limbs moving at very high speeds for their age. Managing to get a kick to his opponent , Naruto grinned as Sasuke pulled back once again; He was not about to let him off the hook now though. Placing strength on his feet, he rushed to meet him again, his arm stretched forward , anticipating to make contact with the raven haired boy's chest.

Sasuke had more time to react than usual, his eyes making the world go a bit slower, allowing him to take in every little detail around him, and letting him dodge Naruto's attack with considerable ease, countering with a hit to the Uzumaki's stomach using his knee. Being in mid-air when the knee hit occurred, Naruto back-flipped and landed a few meters back, his hand holding the aching area.

Silently bringing his hands up again, he charged towards Sasuke, this time with a much more serious look on his face. As Sasuke prepared himself to parry the blow the was about to take, he saw the clearest image of his life so far: He observed as Naruto quickly made a hand seal and his after-image took his place, while he moved to the right. He saw him form another seal, but this time something else occurred to him; He understood exactly what his jutsu was, down to the last detail.

" **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

A clone appeared next to the Uzumaki as he was about to charge the Uchiha; At the last second he noticed a set of two red eyes staring at him intently, as if piercing him. He saw each of them had one tomoe , and both were spinning wildly, focusing on his hands. He could not suppress the bitter thought that came to mind.

_'So he already co-'_

" STOP!", Kakashi's shout filled the clearing they were at; They both complied and dropped their stances as Naruto's shadow clone dispelled itself. The silver haired man lazily approached them , Sakura closely following him.

" Well done you two, you are good at Taijutsu; Congratulations on awakening your Sharingan Sasuke..."

" Thanks" he hastily murmured in response.

" Now... Meet me outside the Hokage Tower at seven a.m. sharp; We will be assigned the first mission as a genin team with their Jounin-sensei....Oh ,and Sakura, take care of their scratches...See you then!"

The mask covered man formed a hand-seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving the three young ninjas alone in the grounds. Being the first to snap out of it, Sakura turned to the two and smiled.

:Now , let's see those wounds of yours...."

o---o

**Author's Note**

Thanks for reading the third chapter of **The Living Fire's Will** _by Vorgonaz_

I hope you liked reading this chapter as much as I liked writing it! If you have the time, please a moment to tell me your thoughts on it, my writing style, the fight( It was nothing too shiny, considering the fact that it was very limited jutsu wise), or anything else you would like to add!

About Sakura addressing Naruto as Naruto-san, remember, he is well respected in this fic, not someone who is looked down on and perseveres nonetheless, which is exactly why Hinata will not have a crush with him in this story...

As for why I chose to name the team Team Zero instead of Seven, that is to show that it isn't Team Seven at all....

Next chapter will include Team Zero's interaction with some of the other senseis... How will they treat them? You'll see if you're patient!


	4. Chapter 4: The Jounin senseis

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own the anime or manga Naruto in any way, shape or form!**

**A Few Words**

A thank you to everyone that read this story so far, a bigger to those that added it to their Fav's or Alerts list, and the biggest yet to those that took the time to review: **deltabeta26, justbin, Sori-Akuma no Musei, Dragon Soul Weaver, Jaraiya's apprentice.**

My answers:

o-o

**deltabeta26**: It's good to see you're back! Glad you liked the changes I made.

**justbin**: The reason Kakashi doesn't meet Naruto sooner is mostly because of his past memories...It's not easy to see someone who reminds you of people that were dear to you but have passed on.

**Sori-Akuma no Musei**: As a personal preference, I don't enjoy reading about godlike characters in a non crackfic/parody/humour story, which is why nobody in this story will be like that; Note that this refers to Hero's Vs Villain's strength, not the average shinobi.

**Dragon Soul Weaver**: Thanks!

**Jaraiya's apprentice**: Thank you for pointing out that site, it really had some nice material in there; In fact, I have thought of a nice little addition, but unfortunately, it will be some time before you see what I mean!

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Thanks for reading this far. Moving on to the next chapter of **The Living Fire's Will** _by Vorgonaz_

**Chapter 4: The Jounin-senseis**

The forest surrounding Konoha. A lush, green backyard for all Leaf Shinobi, full of all kinds of plants and animals, from simple lilies to dangerous poison ivies, from tiny rats to mighty bears. Always bustling with life and the inevitable proof of its existence: Noise.

That very noise was not present in the forest, allowing Naruto to focus even more than usual on his sole purpose of his visit there.

Snap.

The boy instinctively turned his head to inspect the one responsible for breaking the silence; It was as he feared.

_' Dammit, why am I always the one who finds it?'_

He slowly sat in a squat and removed a small package from his pouch, which he carefully unfolded, his eyes never leaving his new company in the woods.

" Here kitty kitty, I have something for you!", he said, his voice as sweet as possible, his free hand pushing a button on the remote communicator, letting his team hear him.

" ROGER C, E.T.A. TWO MINUTES!", the device croaked in a bored tone, causing the cat to growl menacingly and dash towards the Uzumaki, eager to let its nails tear his flesh.

" Damn you Kakashi-sensei!", Naruto said as he formed a cross-shaped hand seal and watched the orange cat jump up, aiming straight for his face.

Two minutes later, the three other members of Team Zero found five boys standing there, four of which were sturdily holding each of the animal's limbs and another one opposite them furiously rubbing his bloodied cheeks.

" Well, at least you got here on time... Did you have to yell again today Kakashi-sensei? I thought I told you not to do that because it provokes it!"

The silver haired man just laughed a bit awkwardly. " I guess I forgot... Are those wounds of yours ok?"

The blond merely sighed as he removed his palms from his face, revealing three perfectly straight lines on each side, stretching from near his ear and almost reaching his nose.

" It's not that it hurts, but I can't figure out how in the Fire's name it can tell the difference between me and my clones! It always scratches me in the exact same places every time too...I think it's gonna leave a scar..."

It was time for the medic of the group to talk. " Don't behave like a baby Naruto-san, it's going to heal in a few days...Here, let me help.". Sakura formed a few seals and a small amount of green chakra swirled around her palm, which she then placed over the blond's cuts; A few moments later, the bleeding stopped and he smiled a bit .

" It feels better now, thanks... You're sure it won't be permanent, right? Because fifteen days of daily clawing has made it quite deep..."

"Yes, yes... Let's get back.". The men nodded one after the other, beginning their walk back in a leisure pace. For a few minutes, the only sounds breaking the silence were the rusting of the leaves, powered by the refreshing breeze that brought clean air into the usually heavy atmosphere of the dense forest.

Kakashi spared a glance behind him, noticing the four clones still carrying the cat in the same manner and decided to remind his student a few things; Focusing again on the small orange book he regularly read, he began his small lecture, not showing the least bit of excitement as people do when reading porn.

" I don't need to remind you that once we enter the village again you will have to hold Tora-chan in a way befitting the Daimyo's wife's pet...". The blond was quick to answer, eager to get rid of the burden.

" Can't you do it for once Kakashi-sensei? If I use only one of my clones to restrain it, it will be dispelled within seconds!"

"Busy, busy..." The older man raised his hands a bit to make them visible; One held his porn book while the other lazily turned one page back and forth, wanting to show that it was also occupied.

Naruto expected as much, since he had been given the same answer for days; He briefly gazed at Sakura, who noticed it and smiled faintly, obviously on to him.

_' I can't ask Sakura-chan to do it; She was even kind enough to help me earlier... That leaves...'_

" Oi, Sasuke, you get the cat today!", he hastily signalled the clones to go near him to complete the transaction. Sasuke looked at him with his patented look, his hands in his pockets.

" Forget it...I don't take credit for other ninjas work..."

" You can have the credit, just get that damn thing and give it to the Daimyo's wife!", the blond yelled in annoyance that only resulted in the Uchiha frowning.

" I already told you no...Didn't you hear me, Hohige-_kun_? ( **A/N**: Hohige means whiskers; the kun shows mocking not affection.)

Naruto clenched his fists; It really was uncalled for to use such a dirty trick, but he would play along. " Fine, fine, you don't have to go Sharingan on us, Akai me no Baka!" (**A/N**: Red eyed fool)

"...Hn", was the only response he received; Both Sakura and Kakashi smiled at that, even though the latter one's originated from his eye rather than his mouth; They knew that it was the two boy's best way of communication barring the occasional spar of course. Sakura in particular noticed the faint smirks on both their faces, validating her thoughts.

It took them a few more minutes before the main gates of their village became visible. Still in the edge of the forest, Kakashi motioned to Naruto, who hesitantly approached the mission objective. With each step he took, the cat's growl became more intense, and it opened its mouth to allow him a full view of the sharp teeth it possessed. Deciding it would be best to get things over with as soon as possible, he grabbed the small animal from underneath its front legs.

That was all the excuse Tora needed to start thrashing around, using all the power in its muscles, although Naruto couldn't tell if it was in an attempt to escape or just to hurt him. The roars had by now become even louder and frequent, the claws flying around crazily. Naruto winced as the piercing nails found his skin yet again; He uncinsciously opened his right eye as a reflex for a brief moment while yelling.

" Stop it!"

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke all felt the difference in the air, like they were back deep in the forest with the heavy air despite the fact that they were right next to the main road to Konoha. Tora for its part, immediately complied, freezing in place. Surprised by how easy that was, the Uzumaki carefully placed the cat in his lap in an acceptable manner and continued his trek, much to the amazement of his comrades.

_' He must have not realised he released some of Kyuubi's chakra...'_

_' Naruto-san, even the wounds on your cheeks have disappeared...'_

_' Hohige-Aho...'_

None of these thoughts were voiced to the blond, and only the sound of Sasuke's fists clenching was the sole indication that the incident had even taken place. So they followed, one watching the boy's back, the other trying to watch further ahead of him and the last one turning to his precious reading material, lazily raising his arm to change page.

o-o

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"I'm glad that we got this over with!". Naruto stretched slowly, finally letting out a breath in relief.

"Those D-Ranks don't really pay much... I mean, with the money I got, I can barely afford a meal at Ichiraku's...", he mumbled as he patiently counted the amount he had been given by the Daimyo's Wife as payment, to which Sakura protested.

" What are you talking about Naruto-san? You can buy at least ten bowls of ramen if I remember the right price...". He merely smiled.

" As I said, just enough for one meal...Which reminds me, we haven't gone to Ichiraku's to eat as a team yet, have we? Let's go today then! Kakashi-sensei, you're the teacher so it's your tre-", he turned around to see a tree's trunk right where the masked Jounin was standing moments ago, a piece of paper loosely attached to it. Sasuke, the one nearest to it, reached out and grabbed it.

"...Tsk.", he silently handed the note to the blond; After a few moments of trying to make out the very shabbily written letters, he read it out loud.

" I have a job to do...Don't forget to go to Training Ground 27 at six to meet your other Senseis...Your Reliable Teacher, Hatake Kakashi.". Both him and Sakura shrugged at the last sentence, before she added.

" He must have truly been it a hurry...This is one of his book's pages, probably the end of a chapter or something, since the other side had been printed on...", the blond turned to see the other side and came to the same conclusion.

_'Let's see just what has him so excited he can't keep hi eyes off it for more than a few minutes...'_

As his one open eye began to follow the lines the letters were written on, a very faint blush started to form on his face.

'_ Oh I see...So this Musubi-chan said she loved that Takeshi-kun, but she's been unfaithful before so he asked her to prove her love... Logical, but what's this...' On your knees'? What, he wants her to beg him for forgiveness? No, he...'_

He shot his head back as he noticed the edge of a kunai protruding from the white sheet, preventing the boy from finding out whether Musubi-chan complied to Takeshi-kun's wish, but his gut told him that she did. He shifted his gaze from the piece of the story to meet the furious face of his female teammate.

" I will not tolerate a perverted member of my team, you got that Naruto-_san_?", she stressed the -san honorific in an attempt to get her point across, and from the way the Uzumaki reacted, she deduced that she had done a pretty good job.

"Of course Sakura-chan, I'm not a pervert at all, see?", he crumpled Kakashi's note and threw it away, all the while smiling awkwardly. She gave him a appreciative nod and continued.

" We have some time before six, and I'm already hungry, so I say it's time to get some lunch as a team, what do you say Sasuke-kun?", she expectantly asked, wanting to initiate a fruitful conversation with her crush, always up for the challenge to win his affections.

"...Fine.". Sasuke's one word answer gave her no chance to pursue the matter further, which made her mood visibly drop a few notches. Naruto noticed that and decided to speak.

" Why don't you pick where we go today Sakura-chan?". The girl of the group looked at him strangely, her depression over her failure temporarily forgotten.

" But you've been telling us about Ichiraku's since we got our first mission Naruto-san...", The blond casually waved her off.

" It's not like I won't get a chance to eat ramen tomorrow; Besides, everyone has been telling me to get a more healthy diet, I might as well start doing so today.". He finished with a warm smile, resulting in Sakura returning it with the same intensity before tilting her head in agreement.

o-o

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-TRAINING GROUND 27, FIVE MINUTES TO SIX-

The grounds were the same as always; A small quiet river leading the water across a low grass filled clearing, surrounded by many tall trees, not unlike the ones surrounding Konoha. In between the trees and the body of flowing water stood three wooden poles, placed a few meters away from a medium sized monument, with no particular shape, but a unique one nonetheless; The black rock it was made of reflected the Sun's rays perfectly except the parts that it had been carved by an artisan's hand. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, who were standing right in front of it, observed in more closely; They noticed that there was still some dust in some of the names there, the places the stone had been cut still rough and edgy.

_' These last ten were probably carved a few hours ago... It will be many weeks before the weather manages to blunt the sharp edges even a little...'_, the young kunoichi thought solemnly, while her partners were thinking something along the same lines.

" Judging from your looks, I'd say that you know what this Monument is about, right?". They turned back to see two people they recognised as the Jounin-Senseis that had been assigned two teams consisting of students from their class.

"Yo!", said a bearded man about the same age as Kakashi, a cigarette sticking out of his mouth; He wore a standard Jounin's attire accompanied with a sash bearing the Kanji for fire, the same as the one Naruto had on his right eye.

" I'm Sarutobi Asuma, and this here...", he pointed with his thumb at the woman next to him; Long black hair framed her beautiful facial features, most striking of which were her one of a kind red eyes; She wore a red red matching them while bandage-like cloth was loosely placed on top of it.

"...Is Yuuhi Kurenai. We are both ranked as Jounin and have been acting as the Senseis for Teams 10 and 8 respectively.". Team Zero greeted them and introduced themselves as well, mostly out of courtesy since the older Shinobi knew probably everything about them skill-wise.

The female Jounin could not suppress a slight frown; Doing this felt like betraying her own team, giving a rival team the advantage of her tutelage while Team 8 received nothing in return. The image of a particular member of her team that had been neglected before in favour of a stronger one flashed into her mind , burrowing her eyebrows a few notches more.

Being exactly the opposite, Asuma Sarutobi considered himself a bit of a carefree and relaxed man that could adapt to most situations, something that also characterised his teacher qualities too. For him, his team and this one were two separate affairs and he tried to give his best to each of them when he could. In that spirit, he was the one to speak.

" Well then, today is mostly an introduction to our respective fields, so we'll have about an hour-long session to discuss and appraise your skills personally, Kurenai in the genjutsu arts, while I will focus in general armed close range combat. Kurenai, go on, I'll wait for my turn over there.", he glanced over a nearby tree. The female Jounin nodded and began her lecture.

" As you know, Genjutsu uses the foes' senses to invade their minds; All the five senses are equally susceptible to those techniques, although the most commonly used are the ones using the enemy's sight to initialise control of his mind and body, with sound-based ones coming second. The most vital thing any ninja should know about Genjutsu, regardless of his skill with the art, is the methods used to break them. Do you know them?"

Sakura was the first to answer. " We were told in the Academy that a fellow Shinobi has to force their chakra into our own system, but did not show us how to do that, or anything beyond that..."

Kurenai nodded in agreement and silently waited in case they knew anything more; Naruto in particular, seemed to be in deep thought; The black haired woman watched his face suddenly light up as he spoke.

" Jiji told me that in order to break a genjutsu, one needs to focus their chakra and expel it all instantly, breaking the chakra's flow and the technique..."

" You're correct, if a team successfully utilises those two methods, they can probably stand against almost any user of the Illusion arts...". Sasuke frowned visibly at her comment.

"Doesn't that make Genjutsu redundant? Since all Shinobi work in teams, all Illusions would be meaningless to use in Jounin level battles..."

_' Then again, there is that one too...'_, he mentally added as his brother's face flashed in front of him, his eyes Sharingan-red, his pupils extended into a pin-wheel.

" That is a very common misconception that we who utilise Genjutsu are very thankful for. You see, I believe the art is the one that is in perfect harmony with a Shinobi's traits; Deception, cunning, stealth, the ability to think ahead of time and trap him are of vital importance. A well placed Jutsu is not the one that completely sucks the victim in a whole other reality and tortures him in the midst of battle, it's a subtle one that fools the target into thinking that he has dodged a kunai, when in fact it is headed straight for his heart. Any questions?"

Hearing no answer, she took it as a no and proceeded.

" Let's practise on it then; I will cast a low level jutsu on each one of you and you'll try to break it using the self-breaking method." Her slim hands shifted rapidly from one seal to the next and a second later she had already completed the technique that affected them all, since it was a sight-based one. Naruto and Sakura formed the hand seal as instructed and released a burst of chakra , ending the genjutsu, while Sasuke activated his special eye and broke it effortlessly. Kurenai frowned but did not try to berate him for not mimicking his teammates.

_' I guess he won't need it anyway; Those eyes of his are very handy indeed.'_

" Again!", she instructed as she went through the same seals again, casting the same Illusion over Team Zero.

o-o

o-o

o-o

The female Jounin glanced at her new students again; She had to give it to them, having to expel bursts of chakra for one hour without rest was something most newly mint genin were not able to do by a long shot, yet Team Zero had pulled it off quite well: Naruto had barely broken a sweat, while Sasuke looked winded but his eyes showed he had more strength to keep going. Finally Sakura, even though she was the one with the smallest reserves of the three, she had managed to estimate the exact amount of chakra she needed to break the jutsu and thanks to her chakra control, had not wasted a sliver of chakra beyond necessary, which allowed her to be standing now, even though she was visibly exhausted.

" We're done for now; Your Jounin-sensei will inform you of the time and place our next lesson will take place...", she gazed at the tree near them and signalled her fellow Jounin-Sensei to come down.

" They're all yours." , she stated as the bearded man appeared next to her.

" You guys seem too tired right now; I thought that I would have you spar each other to see how you handle the basic kunai, but it seem it will have to be done the next time we meet... For now let's just use these..". He threw one square piece of paper to each of the genin, who got them with a questioning look on their faces.

" Focus chakra on them and see what happens...". Still curious, all three did so and observed the results: Sasuke's paper had been incinerated, Naruto's had a clean cut separating it into two pieces of equal size, while Sakura's had water dripping all over it, so much that it actually was torn under the water's weight pulling it down.

"This special paper shows what chakra nature you have a natural affinity for; Fire for Sasuke, Wind for Naruto and Water for Sakura...".

_'This doesn't make sense...Shouldn't my affinity be for the Seika?', _thought a disturbed Naruto, but decided to put those thoughts in the back of his mind to ponder on later.

"One more question and we're done for today; How do you feel about close combat weapons? DO you prefer a short, flexible and quick one like the kunai, a large one with longer range and powerful swings like the katana, or something in between? You first Sasuke."

" The only weapon besides kunai and shuriken that members of my clan used was the Kusarigama... "( **A/N**: Scythe with chain on the handle end)

"..And you want to follow in their footsteps?"

The Uchiha slowly signalled his positive answer, and the smoking Jounin continued." Middle length and a chain with weight at the other end?"

" No...Long range with a fan on the other side..." Sarutobi smirked; The boy knew what he wanted all-right, which made his job all that much easier. He shifted his gaze to the blond next who assumed it as a cue to start talking.

" I have tried out some weapons, both while training with my mother and Jiji, and I can say an average wakizashi suits me, since it has a nice balance of flexibility and striking power..."

" I see, I see...I do have some ideas about it... And last but not least, Sakura. What would say suits you?". After considering her options for one moment, she answered honestly.

" Close combat doesn't suit me at all; I think that in the extreme event that it's unavoidable I'll have to use standard kunai..."

"Hmmm...", Asuma rubbed his bearded chin." I think I know something that will be good for you too...At least I like to think so!", he smiled faintly and the girl returned it.

" Well then, Team Zero, you are dismissed for today; Kakashi will tell you when we'll train again...Until then...", he left the phrase unfinished as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving the three genins alone in the grounds, just like they were when they had first got there.

o-o

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o-o

Six days had passed since Team Zero's interaction with the two new Jounin-Senseis they had the privilege of studying under; Six days of shopping groceries, walking dogs, weeding gardens and cleaning houses; In other words , six days of performing D Rank missions. To Naruto, however, this was not all bad news; They usually completed their assignments within an hour or so, which left them with the entire day to train and bond with each other, just like any team should strive to do.

Much to the three new genins' surprise, Kakashi had actually been a a member of the ANBU, and a captain no less; That was the exact reason why he had insisted on having Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto learn to communicate with hand signs instead of speech; He even went as far as having them wear a mask during the lessons , so that they couldn't even read each other's lips, which evoked a a "Tsk" from the bloodline user of the group.

Naruto had tried talking to his Teacher about his father, but always something would come up, inevitably resulting in their conversation ending before it even essentially started; In the end, the blond decided to let his Sensei speak to him when he was actually ready to share some of his life experiences with them.

Finally, seven days after their first meeting, Kakashi announced that Team Zero would have their second training session with Kurenai and Asuma, bringing forth wide smiles from two of his students and a faint one from the third. The silver haired man could not suppress his bitter thoughts at the sight.

_' They never were so cheerful about training with me...What a betrayal...'_ He focused his right eye on his little book again. _' ...I feel like Takeshi-kun when he walked in on Musubi-chan with his best friend... I might as well read it again...'_ He lazily reached the book with his other hand and switched to the appreciate page and started rereading the whole passage, his students already having said their goodbyes, thus abandoning him.

o-o

o-o

o-o

" Right on time again.", Team Zero heard a voice they recognised as the bearded Jounin's; They saw him a few meters away from them, Kurenai next to him nodding as a greeting.

" Kurenai and I have decided that she should focus on Sakura today while I practice close combat with you two boys. And before I forget...", he pulled out three scrolls from his vest and spread them on the ground, revealing three seals. He formed one hand sign and slammed his palm against the first one,

A loud bang and a cloud of smoke later, he was holding a scythe with its lower end touching the ground and the higher one reaching his shoulders. Its curved blade was about one fourth of the handle's length and of a vibrant grey colour, while the handle was a dark blue one with lines of tomoes engraved on its surface. Sasuke's eyes moved from the top to the lower end and followed the black chain that was attached to it and served as the connection to the other part of the weapon, a large war fan that had three tomoe on its center, arranged in the same way Sasuke knew they were in a fully matured Sharingan, while all around it, six Kanji for fire had been placed.

Naruto was shocked not only by the apparent craftsmanship of the weapon, but from the sheer fact that it had been created in only a week.

_' Jiji wasn't kidding about spending so much for us , huh? I wonder what's mine going to be like...' _

His thoughts were interrupted by Sasuke. " I won't be able to use it properly..."

Sarutobi drew in a breath full of smoke from his cigarette before answering. " You will, it will just take some time to adapt to; Also, it will fit better as you grow up...Your weapon, just like the other two your teammates will receive, are weapons that will last a lifetime, maybe even more..."

Sasuke did not answer, but instead slowly walked and let his hand slid off the Kusarigama's surface, drawing in every detail of the carved tomoes on it. Asuma let him observe it for a few more seconds before speaking up.

"You'll have time for this later; Since it's obviously too big for you to carry around at this point, you'll use this storage scroll to seal and unseal it when you need to." The bearded Jounin formed the same hand seal as before and with another palm thrust, the Uchiha's weapon was nowhere to be seen; He carefully closed the scroll and gave it to the raven haired boy.

"Use it well...Next one is you, Naruto."

The Uzumaki flashed a wider smile than before and stepped up front to get a closer look on his own sword. The clearing filled with the sound of a bang yet again and this time a slightly curved sword appeared; Its handle was black with carefully placed white cloth was wrapped around it, while a highly detailed round hand-guard separated it from the sheath that Naruto went on to inspect more closely as he was given the sword to hold.

Flames had been carved in on its tip end that reached up to about half of its total length; Naruto grinned as he noticed that they were white, easily associating them with the Seika. With delight, he saw yet more reference of it, as right below the hand guard, one Kanji was written on each side, in white also, that together formed the word for Seika ( 聖火 ).

He slowly tightened his grip on the handle and began to ceremoniously draw the blade out; He was not surprised to see that it was the exact same grey colour Sasuke's had. He placed it again in its protector and looked at his sensei again, who smirked.

" Well, I see it almost reaches your waist now, but as I said, in time it will fit much better...And last but not least Sakura." The pink haired kunoichi gulped; She had no idea what her weapon would be since she had not stated a preference in their talk. As soon as she saw what the Jounin was holding on his hand, she couldn't help but be a bit disappointed.

She hastily reached out and took a small scalpel off Sarutobi's hand. The only detail it had about it was the pink colour the handle had along with a few petals engraved on it and the grey colour of the metallic parts, just like her comrades' ones had.

" Thanks sensei, it really is...nice.". Kurenai did not manage to completely suppress her giggle at the comment and Asuma's awkward rub of his head's back.

" I know it's not like the other two, but listen you three; The metal these blades are made of is special and somewhat rare; It reacts to the chakra you put to it, amplifying its potency considerably. It will be a great asset once you learn Nature Manipulation a few years from now, at least for Naruto and Sasuke. On the other hand, you ,Sakura, can use it already with the healing chakra your medical Jutsu utilise, either to prevent blood loss when you perform incisions or even as a medium to increase the strength of your regeneration techniques.". The older man took a break and huffed; Long winded explanations were such a pain. Kurenai picked up from there.

" Let's get on with the practice then; I will show Sakura a few fundamental but useful genjutsu while Asuma here will have you boys spar and correct or advise you when it is needed. Any questions?"

"Can we use our new weapons?"

"Definitely not" came the answer from the male Jounin again.

" You have barely held them and you want to use them already? I would like you to self practice in your own time to get a feel for them first, then next week you will perform an exhibition here; If I see that your style is flowing along well, I'll let you use them in our sessions. Anything else?"

After a slight pause he continued.

" Let's start then."

o-o

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-THREE DAYS LATER, NOON-

Team Zero along with their silver haired sensei were walking along the hall of the Hokage Tower, ready to report another D Rank mission complete, Naruto was frequently tapping his leg ; Since Asuma had given them their weapons, he had been practising with his all the time and when he couldn't he always kept it on his person by adding a small scroll case right next to the shuriken compartment of his leg holster and placing the scroll inside.

Completely focused in his thoughts of mastering its use, he came to a sudden halt as he bumped onto a something.

" Hey kid, watch where you're going! You're super clumsy!". Naruto looked up startled. He faced a grey haired old man with a small pair of glasses and a brown merchant's outfit; In his hand was a bottle and his breath smelled terribly of sake.

" I'm sorry, I spaced out for a bit there!", the Uzumaki hesitantly apologised with a smile. He just sloppily moved his glasses up and inspected the boy further.

" You're super short too!". The blond genin frowned at that; The fact that he knew he was the shortest of the group, surpassed even by Sakura made things a lot worse. He did not have time to retort as the Hokage was heard from inside the mission assignment room.

" Come in."

" Super goodbye, kid.", he mumbled before opening the door and entering the room. Naruto and the others only caught a brief glimpse of the room right before the door closed again.

_' Kurenai-Sensei?'_

o-o

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**Author's Notes **

Thanks for reading Chapter 4 of **The Living Fire's Will** _by Vorgonaz,_ I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!

About Naruto's sword length, the blade is by itself around 55 cm and so together with the handle that makes it about 65-70 cm long. The reason I called it a wakizashi and not a katana is because of its shorter blade. I read that in katanas, blades exceeded 60 cm.

Concerning Sasuke's weapon, the base model is Madara's weapon when Konoha was founded.

Sakura's weapon may give the impression of something generic, but you will see its uses in the chapters to come.

Lastly, about Naruto's seal, I think I managed to show you a glimpse of one of the vital differences it has compared to the canon one. Of course, he doesn't just have to open his eye to draw the Kyuubi's chakra, since before he was told what it meant, he kept it open all the time. For further details I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the next chapters.

I'm really looking forward to hearing your opinion on this chapter's contents, especially the weapon choices I made, character interactions and generally any constructive criticism or comment you want to offer.


	5. Chapter 5: C Rank

**DISCLAIMER**

**I do not own the anime or manga Naruto in any way, shape or form!**

**A Few Words**

A thank you to everyone that read this story so far, a bigger to those that added it to their Fav's or Alerts list, and the biggest yet to those who took the time to review: **KonIsMyName, Nemrut, Phoenix550, Jaraiya's apprentice.**

My answers:

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**KonIsMyName**: About Sasuke's attitude, the changes I made did not merit changing his character completely; He wasn't affected that much. And yes, Kurenai was thinking about Hinata when she made that comment.

**Nemrut**: First off, thank you for taking the time to write such an extensive review. About the Japanese words like Hohige etc., I wanted to see if people actually liked those bits of Japanese words in the text. The end result did not satisfy me completely, but I wanted the readers' input as well. However, I will continue to use Japanese for the jutsu names, since I really happen to enjoy the flow of the language.

I think Sakura and water fit well; To me the sea can be gentle if approached carefully but fierce if is dealt with force, deceiving in that it can shift from calm to full of two meter waves in a matter of minutes; In short, it's beautiful but dangerous, just how I perceive Sakura to be. What I meant by the increase in strength of her regeneration techniques, it refers to her Healing jutsus, since they are in fact regeneration techs.

**Phoenix550**: Glad you liked it!

**Jaraiya's apprentice**: I know what you mean, most don't accept advice, but I consider that a major flaw in an author. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too! *bows at the waist and hands over the chapter*

o-o

About Naruto's right eye: The Fire Kanji is on his skin, not directly on the eye like King Bradley's Homonculus mark on Fulllmetal Alchemist, but in the same manner as Kakashi's scar. The actual eye looks like the one canon Naruto has once he goes Kyuubi, in other words, the red slitted pupil. He currently walks with one eye closed, like Kakashi did when he wasn't wearing his headband, just like Nemrut assumed.

o-o

Moving on to the next chapter of **The Living Fire's Will** _by Vorgonaz_

**Chapter 5: C Rank**

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o-o

_'Kurenai-Sensei?'_

The Uzumaki had by now completely forgotten his little mishap with the half drunk old man, his attention focused instead on the excited voices that were coming from inside the briefing room.

" C Rank? You hear that Akamaru? We already got a higher level mission! I bet we'll be Chuunins by the end of the year!" a boy's voice was echoed in the waiting hall, accompanied by multiple loud short barks.

Sakura couldn't help but sigh at the boy's antics. " That Kiba is too noisy...". Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand were more concerned with the things he had said rather than the volume of his voice.

" They have gotten that stronger since we graduated?" the blond looked at his teacher, who was as always busy with his book and did not offer a response.

" We will probably get a C Rank too...Right Kakashi?" Sasuke's tone was as indifferent as always, but the silver haired man's eye curled a bit as he turned the page of his orange book, indirectly giving the answer the Uchiha was seeking.

The creaking sounds of the door opening again alarmed them to Team Eight's exit. They observed as a boy with short black unkempt hair and a pair of sunglasses appeared first, a light green jacket reaching his knees, its side pockets being occupied by his hands ; Behind him was a similarly dressed boy, the only difference being that his jacket was a grey colour and had fur lining along his hood and the wrists. The boy's pupils were slitted instead of round, while a red fang tattoo adorned each of his cheeks.

Right behind him came a shorter, dark-blue haired girl wearing a cream white jacket and dark blue pants, her pale purple eyes easily the most striking feature about her; In her lap was a small white dog with long black, hung down ears, lazily moving his tail back and forth.

The three members of Team Zero along with their teacher moved towards them as Kurenai came into view, bearing a small smile that had managed to crack the usually calm and detached behaviour she strived to preserve.

" Congratulations for being assigned a C Rank mission, Hinata, Shino, Kiba...What exactly do you have to do?" came the question from the pink haired girl of the group, who curiously looked behind them, where the old man was now finally exiting the room, his steps not so sturdy.

Kiba grinned wildly as he explained. " We have to guard this drunk fart here from some bandits on his way home to the Wave Country!"

"Please, Kiba-kun, don't talk like that about our client...", the shy girl behind him said, her voice no more than a whisper. He absent-mindedly waved his hand.

"Fine, fine...And what about you? Are you here to report that you couldn't find _Tora-chan_? Tough luck that not everyone gets a C Rank so early aft-" A loud thump interrupted him; Turning his head to see the cause of it, he frowned deeply.

" Tazuna-san, are you alright?" Kurenai moved to help the grey haired man, who had just collapsed from the sheer amount of alcohol in his system; Much to her displeasure, he had somehow fallen asleep.

Sasuke smirked confidently at the sight." I hope the Hokage has prepared a real C Rank for us, because this looks pathetic...What about our lessons Kurenai?"

All three members of Team 8 were confused by the question, but only two showed it; Hinata and Kiba looked at the red eyed Jounin expectantly, waiting for her answer.

" The next scheduled lesson is tomorrow; I will not be present, but Asuma-san will...", she faced Sakura as she continued."...I will prepare a scroll for you Sakura; He will give it to you tomorrow to practice even while I'm away..."

Silence fell after her response; She did not even spare a glance at her students, not because she did not want to, but because she couldn't. The female Jounin knew what they were thinking because that's what she would have thought if the roles were reversed.

Kiba clenched his fists and small drops of blood began trickling along his fingers. His deep voice betrayed his current emotional state. " So you trained them too...Why? Are we not good enough to deserve your undivided attention? Maybe you wanted the _privilege_ of training the fabled _Blessed One_ or even the _Last Uchiha_? Trai-". He felt a hand on his shoulder calmly putting some pressure on him. He shifted his gaze and saw his usually silent teammate looking at his direction.

" That is enough Kiba-san...Kurenai-Sensei has her own reasons that we are not entitled to know...". He simply pushed his hand aside and looked at him straight in his eyes, his animalistic features more prominent than ever.

"No, it isn't nearly enough Shino; You are an Aburame, Hinata is the next heir of the Hyuuga and I'm an Inuzuka dammit! We all deserve better than this! We deserve better than someone who helps our rivals because she thinks she got bummed with the Hokage's choice!"

" Kiba-kun..." came another whisper from Team Eight's female member, who gazed at her teammate with sadness and understanding; She, of all people, knew how it felt to be underestimated and had even gotten used to the feeling; To the proud Inuzuka, however, it was a crippling experience, especially with the alpha male mentality she had come to realise he had been brought up to have.

" I will prove to you ,Kurenai-Sensei, that you have been given the best ninja of this generation!" He pointed at the woman with his index finger, his eyes glaring daggers at the Kunoichi.  
" I promise you, this C Rank mission will show you just how skilled we are, right Akamaru?"

The small dog gave off a few short excited barks as he jumped from Hinata's lap to Kiba's head, his tail wiggling faster than ever.

Kurenai did not retort; Not a single word left her mouth, because she knew Kiba would only view it as an excuse at this point; She kept her eyes glued on the still sleeping Tazuna, even though he was the last thing on her mind. The hooded boy hastily walked past his teammate and Team Zero; Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke quietly listened as the sound of his footsteps began to fade away, their attention shifting to Kakashi as he moved forward into the next room after whispering some comforting words at the Rookie Jounin.

The three genins silently followed, different thoughts spinning in their heads.

_'Maybe I shouldn't have said that after all...'_

_'I can't blame him; I guess I would have acted like that too...'_

_' You are making too much of a deal out of this, Kiba...'_

Naruto closed the door behind him; His smell was the first sense to inform him of the change in his surroundings; A faint but familiar scent of tobacco improved his mood a bit, something he desperately needed after the earlier incident with his fellow genin. As he glanced at his grandfather-like figure, the blond noticed something that disturbed him greatly, but did not surprise him one bit.

One thing that the Uzumaki had noticed about the man holding the same position his own father once did was that no matter how old he was, no matter how many wrinkles his face had or how white his hair was, one of his features seemed to have survived the test of time unscathed: His eyes.

The will to live on, to improve himself and to lead the village had been there from the time Naruto had met him, making them vibrant and giving the younger ones an example of how to strive to become.

That look had was not present in the room today. It was then that Naruto truly saw that the Old Man as he called him was in fact old and had too many things on his mind for his age.

_' And Kiba's tantrum made it even worse...'_

Kakashi, on the other hand, knew that look well; It was the same as the one he had when he gave them _that_ mission or rather, when he gave out any potentially lethal mission to new shinobi and shinobi unfamiliar with the responsibilities of their new rank.

_' So today is the day...Don't worry Hokage-sama, I will not allow anything to happen to them...And I know Kurenai will do the same...'_

His thoughts seemed to make it to the elder, who gave them a feeble smile as a greeting.  
" We received the confirmation notice that you completed your mission with success. Congratulations to all of you for a job well done...", he paused for a few moments to draw a breath of smoke from his pipe that he soon let out before continuing.

" A new request has arrived from the heart of the country; The details are in this scroll.." He motioned Kakashi, who slowly moved closer and opened it, his only visible eye constantly on the move, absorbing every detail available. The silver haired Jounin nodded as he finished and returned to his original position a few meters back.

" It will take you about two days to get there; I understand that you have a training session with my son tomorrow, so you will depart at eight o'clock in the morning two days from now; Kakashi will let you know the specifics on your way there...Dismissed..."

o-o

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Yet another small green branch was in her way; Hyuuga Hinata gently pushed it aside, ducking a bit to get past it. The dark haired girl knew this path very well, since it led to their most commonly used training ground, Number 8, which happened to be the same as their team.

'_ Kurenai-Sensei probably took that into consideration; She always pays attention to little details... Maybe that's why her skill with genjutsu is as advanced as it is..."_

Thinking of her teacher inevitably led her to recall the most recent events; After Kiba's departure, she and Shino helped their Jounin-Sensei in taking the drunk elder to a small inn after learning that he had not even booked a room despite the fact that he had been in the village for a few days already.

Of course, all these happened in the awkward silence caused by the aftermath of the revelation, making even basic interaction between them a formidable task;Even so, the kunoichi could tell that Kurenai was in very low spirits from the one phrase they heard from her.

_' We leave Konoha in five hours; Make preparations for a two-week trip...'_, Her words rung in the girl's mind, making her current task a bit more pressing; Kiba had not been informed yet and , since his temper took the best out of him once again, he did not ask about the mission at all.

She snapped out of her reverie by the sounds coming from the distance, being carried by the wind. Hinata hastened her pace a bit and tried to listen more closely, knowing full well that she was almost there; Recognising the last branch that obstructed her view of the clearing that was Ground 8, the Hyuuga came to a stop and activated her special eye to better perceive the clearing.

Her words fell short to describe what her white eyes were seeing; Tens of trees laying sloppily on the ground, their trunks sporting large openings, small pieces of wood spread all over the ground, which was also full of multiple one meter wide holes, the air all around her full of dust and minuscule pieces of wood.

" Gatsuuga!"

Seeing through the smoke, she watched as Kiba and Akamaru, now transformed into a clone of his human partner, started spinning around in high speed before jumping in the air with force and heading straight for one of the few still intact boulders in the vicinity, pulverizing it on impact.

Having stopped his attack, the young Inuzuka kept looking where the rock formerly stood as he spoke in a voice that showed his tiredness and a tinge of regret.

" You can come out Hinata...I can smell you, you know...". She followed his instruction and slowly took many small steps heading to his directions.

" Kurenai-Sensei said that we are leaving in a few hours... You should prepare for the trip Kiba-kun..." The boy nodded as Akamaru returned to his original form. She was about to continue, but another voice interrupted her.

" Declaring you will prove to Kurenai-Sensei that our team is the strongest and then leaving us to train alone is quite the contradiction..." They both saw their third teammate standing next to them, his hands in his pockets and sunglasses on as usual.

A faint smirk made its appearance on the boy with the slitted eyes. " I guess I overdid it a bit back there, huh?"

"Indeed, however the goal you set is one we must strive to attain...In my clan we believe that even though a small bug alone cannot do much on its own...", he brought his index finger up and a small bug gradually dug out from under his skin. " … When many of them work together, the results can be stunningly positive...".

Kiba just sighed, slightly in a disappointed manner. " Shino, I get that you've got your special way of talking, but sometimes you sound like an old man, ya know?". The Aburame did not show any kind of reaction, but Hinata let out a small giggle, which despite her best efforts, did not manage to disguise into a cough effectively.

" But I get what you're saying; We'll work together as a team..." His eyes dimmed a bit before he continued. " No...it isn't good enough..."

Hinata's eyes widened at the statement; Even Shino's brows borrowed a bit.

"... We will have to work as one! Just like Akamaru and I do!". The girl have him a serene smile accompanied by a nod, her last action being mimicked by the Aburame.

" It is a valid way to become stronger...Unfortunately, it will have to wait since we will be travelling for the duration of the mission. Escorting our client to Wave Country and returning here will take us about a week's time..."

Kiba raised his fist, a beastly grin on his face. " And then, we'll show them all who's the best!"

o-o

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o-o

Team Zero and their Sensei had just exited the Administration building and entered the main street of the village, connecting the Main Gates with the Hokage's Tower.

" So, Kakashi-Sensei, what's our assignment?" asked the blond of the group impatiently, eager to experience a C Rank mission. Kakashi just suppressed a yawn as he answered.

" Nothing special... Just some bandits harassing the locals in the center of the country..." Naruto allowed his disappointment to show in his next words as he huffed.

" Really? I thought we might go up against some shinobi..."

" You're getting ahead of yourselves; If you were right now placed in a position where you'd have to fight an enemy ninja you'd die...", he absent mindedly said in the same bored tone he exclusively used, giving no sign that he understood the gravity of his words.

The genins' confusion-filled looks did not startle him at all as he elaborated." Foreign shinobi that may be operating here are not only much more experienced than you, but also have one big advantage compared to you: They have killed before..." He closed his Icha Icha and carefully put it in his pouch before continuing.

" In a battle to the death, most rookie genins would hesitate to kill their opponent...And a moment of hesitation is more than enough...In that sense, someone you would can a 'heartless monster' is the one with the most potential to become a strong shinobi... And more importantly, to survive..."

Even Sasuke felt a minuscule amount of fear creeping up to him because of his teacher's words but he knew it was nothing next the one he guessed Sakura was experiencing now, if her borderline terrified look was any indication. As he glanced at his male comrade-in-arms, he saw that the blond was considerably calmer and seemed more troubled than scared.

"But if we train hard everything will be alright, won't it Kakashi-Sensei?" came the question from the horrified Kunoichi that barely disguised it.

He gave her one his hearty eye-smiles. " Of course, you have nothing to worry about; If you train really hard, I'm sure you'll be fine... Now then, I have to go...The paperwork those D Ranks we've been doing is more difficult than the actual assignments..." He formed a hand-seal and smiled at them once more.

" See you tomorrow!" A puff of smoke later, the silver haired man was nowhere to be seen.

" Well, he's gone again...It's strange, he always finds something deep to tell us right before he leaves..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head but quickly shrugged the thoughts of his teacher's antics off and focused on his teammates.

" So, did you two get used to your weapons? Sakura-chan? Sasuke?". The pink haired girl looked at him like he had grown a second head.

"What are you talking about Naruto-san? I only got a small scalpel, not a katana..." , She turned her gaze to Sasuke "...Or a scythe that's taller than me, so I guess I'm doing fine!" She huffed at the last phrase, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

The blond gulped before talking; He knew that tone well and had come to a solution as to how to deal with an angry woman.

" You're completely right Sakura-chan, Asuma-Sensei made a bad choice...And what about you Sasuke?", he hastily added, eager to change the subject.

" You'll see tomorrow; I hope that you'll at least prove to be a challenge this time..." the raven haired boy smirked confidently.

" Same old Sasuke, not telling me anything, huh? Well, how about all three of us train together this time? A bit of teamwork practice will go a long way in our mission."

"I'll train alone...I still have some things I have to learn on my own...". He firmly said, leaving no room for Naruto to argue. He merely sighed but did not try to persuade him.

" Fine, fine...What about you Sakura-chan?"

The girl's eyes shifted from one boy to the other as she answered in a defeated tone, still a bit annoyed from before.

" Sorry, Naruto-san , but today it's my first day at the hospital; I am supposed to meet a medic-nin to learn about techniques necessary in the field... Sorry again..."He hastily waved her off.

" It's fine... After all, it's for our own benefit if you learn that stuff too!...Work hard! Both of you!"

She warmly nodded while Sasuke said something under his breath as they separated from each other, each taking their own path, Sakura heading for the Hospital, Sasuke for the Uchiha Library and Naruto to his house.

o-o

o-o

o-o

He placed his key in the lock and turned it. A small clack signalled him that the way to his house was now open. As he pushed the door, Uzumaki Naruto found himself inside his small living room. The blond knew that his mother was at the Academy, so he took the opportunity to have some of his favourite instant ramen.

Searching the cupboards, he finally found what he was looking for.

_' Yes, there's some miso ramen left! Thank Kami mom remembered to buy some, she always cooks salted ramen because she likes it better...' _

He hastily poured some boiling water in it. Three minutes later, the food was ready for consumption. Three and a half minutes later , the very same food was nowhere to be seen.

He had a content smile on as he rubbed his belly, satisfied with his meal. As his hunger receded, another need arose, this one deeper than the more primal instinct to feed.

The creaking of wood sliding along a wooden surface filled the otherwise silent house and Naruto found himself looking at the back side of his father's white coat. He read the large red Kanji that he had read many times in the past; In fact, they were the first Kanji he learned to write; His mother had seen to it that he did.

His mother had made this room to store all of Minato's shinobi belongings, along with some mementos of his life as a ninja; He used to spend some time here when he was younger, since he felt like his father could actually see him.

The coat was placed in a stand almost in the center of the room, the sun's rays gently caressing the images of fire that were present at its lower end. On the walls all around it were two lines of shelves on top of which a variety of his shinobi tools and personal things had been put on, each adding a small piece of information to the puzzle that was the Fourth's Hokage's career.

As the blond looked around, his eye came across something he had never noticed before: Two pictures, one next to the other: In the first, he saw a blond he immediately recognised as his father standing next to two children his age, while a smiling white haired man stood behind them, making a very strange, and -to Naruto-, hilarious pose.

_' That must be Jiraiya-Sensei...I wonder what he's like...' _

He turned his attention to the right, seeing his father in the background now, while a silver haired boy stood impassively next to a smirking black haired one with goggles on, making a victory sign, while a girl as tall as them was on the other side, holding one hand inside the other, probably being shy.

_' Kakashi-Sensei... Your stance looks exactly like Sasuke's...I wonder if you acted like him too...'_

He walked past the coat's stand and gazed at a much smaller room that was behind it, no doors to separate it from the rest of the space. A simple scroll was hung on the wall, a single sentence written on it.

_' The fire's shadow illuminates the village ….Dad's favourite phrase...'_

Right below, on the ground, on a yellow silk pillow a kunai unlike all others rested; The characteristic three edges and a small seal on the wooden handle were enough to cause terror to any Iwa shinobi that fought against Konoha in the last war.

_' Hiraishin no Jutsu... Dad's signature attack...'_

He carefully lifted the kunai from its position; The wooden handle and the extra metal edges made it difficult to handle in his inexperienced hand; It was too heavy for him to use properly.

" This, as well as everything else in here, belongs to you Naruto-kun...Although that particular kunai will not be of any use to you; The seal responds only to his chakra..."

The boy turned to see his mother leaning on the door, her hands crossed, a fond smile on her face. He looked down again as he spoke.

" I was given a higher level mission today; We leave in two days..."

" I see...", she walked next to him and gently ruffled his unkempt hair; She let her one knee touch the floor to let her look straight into his eyes.

" When you return from that mission, you will be a ninja of the Leaf; I believe in you...", she grabbed the hand that was holding the special kunai and squeezed her hands around it. "...And I'm sure Dad does too..." Tears threatened to break free from his eyes at his mother's words of encouragement; She somehow always knew just what to tell him to make all his worries disappear and seem like they never were there.

" Now, now, what's rule number twenty five of shinobi conduct?", she gave him a warm smile and wiped off the first tear that appeared on her child's face. The boy chuckled at her response.

" What? I'm not crying...It' just... Uh...Some dust got in my eyes, that's all...When was the last time you cleaned this place up?" The older Uzumaki just ruffled his hair again.

" Take the kunai with you for good luck...I'd tell you to wear his coat too; He did leave it behind for you, but I guess you're a tad too short yet..." She giggled at the look her son briefly gave her when she mentioned his height.

The touched the red silken threads that made up the Kanji at the back of his father's clothing again before answering.

" I don't want to wear it just yet; This haori shows how strong Dad was, it says it right here..." His hand traced along the letters. " Until I am just as strong, this will remind me of my goal...If I grow as powerful as him, I'm sure I will be able to protect everyone I care about...". He noticed his mother biting her lip, the skin surrounding her eyes slowly turning red.

" Sometimes you sound exactly like him Naruto-kun...You seem to grow up too fast...You're only thirteen and yet...". The moment passed and she regained her composure. " I suppose I did a really good job raising you; You're very mature for your age..." She softly touched his cheek. " Don't force yourself to act as an adult all the time; Act like a child a bit more...Now that you still have the chance to do so..."

He merely nodded as he replaced the kunai in his leg holster with his new lucky charm.

" Let's go outside; I don't want to hear you saying you never got anything from your mother!" Despite the curious look, Naruto did not ask and followed to their small green garden; A round pond with a few white stones surrounding it was the center of attention, while all around the walls many small trees and bushes of flowers of all kinds were present; In between them was regularly cut green grass, while a relatively wide paved path connected everything together.

Kushina stood right next to the pond with the crystal-clear water and turned back to face her son, who still had the same expression on.

" Since you'll be a full-fledged ninja soon, I have decided to pass down the Uzumaki's special technique: Uzu Seikatsu.". The boy tilted his head in thought.

" Living Whirlpool? Sounds a bit weird to be honest...". She did not answer; Instead, she raised and stretched her left hand so that it was parallel to the the ground and faced the water. Then, much to the blond surprise, the red haired woman formed a seal he had never seen before and whispered something under her breath.

He heard the water next to her stir violently for a bit before a thin pillar of water rose up from the surface and moved to her hand , coiling around it like a snake; If he had to guess, he'd say that it was about as wide as her hand and had three times its length, but with the way it went around it in circles made seem like a perfect match to her hand.

" So? What do you think? Impressive, huh?" came the question from the excited mother; Much to her disappointment, Naruto was not very enthusiastic about it.

" I don't really know what it does yet, but so far it looks alright...What I really want to know about is that seal you used; I haven't heard of it before..."

" I'll explain; the water inside this pillar is continuously spinning, so that's where it got its name from; This jutsu is classified as D Rank, but it has many uses; It can restrain an opponent or hit him directly, much like a whip or a spear; Advanced users can change its shape into much more lethal or wide area weapons...Or if your imagination is really good...". She made yet another hand-seal and the tube-shaped water began splitting in thousands of blue threads of the same length, that began concentrating above her palm.

A few moments later, Naruto was looking at what appeared to be a perfectly round ball of water made up of those hundreds of strings, each positioned in a different manner than the other. Kushina gave him a moment to observe it better before she spoke.

"This is an attack I created quite some time ago; Each line is a miniature version of the original Uzu Seikatsu that I weaved together in no particular manner. This way , it's possible that no two 'threads' are placed in the exact same way... It has no actual name because it's plain manipulation, but it's what inspired Minato to create the Rasengan, you know..." Naruto's eyes opened wider than ever before at that statement; His voice was trembling from the excitement as he asked.

" So it's just as strong as the Rasengan?"

" Not really, I'd say its power is about high C or low B rank, unlike the Rasengan that ranges in the A region, depending on how much chakra is used; You see, the Rasengan is made of chakra which is a lot different than water, since it can be compressed, thus maintaining the same shape and size while adjusting the power...For my attack, you'd have to increase the size so much that it just wouldn't be efficient anymore to reach its level...". Naruto rubbed his chin, understanding the basic idea of what his mother tried to explain.

" BUT its real use and the reason we keep it as a secret jutsu is because of the synergy it has with all the water techniques in general; For example..." She made an few hand-seals with her free hand again and whispered a phrase that the blond heard this time.

" **Suiton: Uzumaku Suiryuudan no Jutsu! "**

The whirlpool around her hand started to expand and a large body of water multiple times their size erupted from the end that was close to her palm, taking on the form of a dragon's head followed by its body; She let it go around for a few moments before releasing it, all the blue liquid receding back to her hand's original water.

"Incredible..." Naruto still looked where the dragon made of water previously stood as he mumbled the words.

" I told you! You see, Uzu Seikatsu acts like a buffer to all water techniques, allowing you to produce them with a lot less hand-seals than normal; Also, it adds a spinning movement to the water, making it quite a bit stronger than the normal version...I'd go as far as to say that the B rank jutsu I just used had the stopping power of an A rank one!" She was by now beaming with pride and waiting for his questions.

Naruto's enthusiasm suddenly left him as fast as it had come when he remembered something he had learned of recently.

" I can't learn it...I'm a wind-type, not a water one..."

" So? You can still learn to use the water element, it'll just take more time; Besides, you got your wind-type from your father's side, but you must have gotten a bit of my affinity for water too. That said, your wind nature is obviously the dominant one, but both are there, I'm sure in time it'll show on the paper too!". He nodded and put his game face on right away.

" What do I have to do to learn it then?"

" A determined face, huh? There are three steps to mastering any kind nature manipulation; The first step for the water element is to create a drop of water from the moisture in the air: You can do that if you saturate the air around your palm with your chakra..."

" Alright, I'll try...", he moved chakra on his palm and waited for the results; Kushina decided to humour him, so she waited.

One minute, Two minutes. Three minutes...

"You know, it takes months for most shinobi to do that... But you're on a good track...Keep practising when you have the time and you'll get it down in no time at all!" Frustrated by his fruitless efforts, Naruto decided to change the subject.

" So, what about those special one handed seals you used? Are you going to show me how to use them too?"

"I think I've shown you more than enough for now; I'll tell you about them when you get back...Now then, I have to make something to eat..." She began her trek back inside the house, all the while mumbling something to herself; As soon as he heard it, the blond sighed loudly.

" Salted Ramen... Perfect..."

o-o

o-o

o-o

Sasuke checked yet another scroll only to find that it wasn't the one he had been looking for the last hour, and the place he was in made things a lot worse.

The heavy atmosphere brought about by years of being completely closed down, the ever present dust that was several centimetres thick, the many bug and rat nests that were in every corner would make any person feel uncomfortable just by being in there for so long. But to Uchiha Sasuke, those things did not matter in the least.

His memories were all that was harming him; In the extremely rare cases a crack appeared in his determination and focus to live on and complete his destiny, he found himself wishing that he did not remember a thing, that his brother's jutsu had been enough to erase every trace of his personality, his identity and his clan for his mind.

As he pulled back from yet another scroll, his eyes came across the counter in the distance; He remembered coming here before It happened to find a technique he could learn to impress his dad with. He allowed himself a feeble smile as he thought of the librarian's child; She was around his age and always tried to find 'super-strong and super-flashy jutsus', as she used to say, for him, even in his absence. Sasuke at the time really enjoyed her company and even went as far as to think she was cute.

She was one of the countless people he had to watch his brother brutally murder in front of him in his horrifying blood-red world.

Opening another scroll, he started to think about it more clearly; Maybe Itachi did erase every trace of his personality, identity and clan; He was no longer Sasuke, a kind boy who wanted to work in the Military Police Force, Fugaku's son and a proud Uchiha; He was Sasuke, a ninja who wanted to get revenge, the traitor Itachi's brother and the last in the line of some now extinct clan that remained strong in peoples' minds alone.

By now only one scroll had remained in the section he had been searching; He confidently opened it and was relieved to read the title.

" Tessen Katas and Fire Control"

o-o

o-o

o-o

Sakura stood silent in behind a closed door, trying to find the most appropriate way to introduce herself. She had been observing the Kanji written on the door for time now, repeating the name in her mind many times to make sure she remembers it when she enters, so that she won't embarrass herself by forgetting it.

_' Ireko Tori, Ireko Tori, Ireko Tori... I must remember to call her with her surname...Ireko-san'_

After several more mental preparations, she sturdily knocked the door two times.

_' Knocking one time could be seen as an accident and three might seem like I'm being impatient and rude... Four will me-'_

"Come in..."

She carefully pushed the door and stepped inside. She found that the office was about as big as her room and with very few furniture; In fact, the only things there was to see were two plain black chairs and a small desk with a few files a cup of coffee and a coffee-making machine on it. Behind it sat a young woman maybe seven years older than her or so with shoulder length black hair and glasses on.

" Yes? "

" I am Haruno Sakura... I was ordered to receive training as a medic and was assigned to you, Ireko-san...Here is my file..." She moved her hand to give the papers to her superior, who made to effort to get them; Seeing no response, she placed them next to the ones on her desk.

The older woman sized her up for a brief moment before she gestured her to sit down, something she eagerly did.

" It's coffee break now...Would you like a cup?". Sakura was close enough now to make out the colour of her eyes, a dim shade of blue that fitted her apparent personality.

" No thank you, I don't drink coffee..."

" I insist, you'll truly like it, it's just perfect! ", she said with considerably more volume, a friendly smile on her face.

" I truly appreciate the gesture but I don't like drinking coffee...", she once more said in the most gentle and clear voice she could muster given the circumstances. Despite all her protests, Tori went on and picked an empty cup from the side and poured some of the brown liquid into it.

" Come on, it's not poison; I made it myself!". The girl silently took the cup and held it in her hands, having it as far from her face as possible.

_' Dammit, what's wrong with her? I can't stand drinking coffee, it makes me want to puke...'_

The medic-nin frowned at the girl's hesitance and stood up.

" I guess the coffee break is over then...Come with me!" She flashed a smile again as she stormed out of the room.

_' I'm dead...'_, the young genin thought as she followed. It took them less than a minute to reach one of the nearby patient rooms.

" This is Kenji, an Academy student that got here yesterday because he had a fever...Can you examine him and tell me if he is alright to be released?", Tori said with the same kind voice she had displayed from the start.

The girl nodded and did as asked; A few minutes later she gave her answer.

" He is completely fine!", she happily stated as the boy grinned at her direction.

" You're correct, Haruno-san!", the black haired woman agreed with much enthusiasm before asking  
" Do you happen to have a kunai with you right now, Haruno-san? Do you mind giving me one if you do?". The pink haired kunoichi did not dare ask why she wanted wanted it, and silently gave it to her.

" Ah, thank you very much!". The smile never left her face as she got a hold of the kunai; With a wide movement, she sliced the boy's throat, bringing out cries of pain from the little boy and screams from the kunoichi; With what strength the boy had, he jumped in front of Sakura and formed one mouthed one word with its mouth.

Help.

Sakura had frozen in place; It was as if her heart had stopped giving blood to her hands and legs making them cold. The only feeling that she perceived was the warm red blood of the dying boy, who helplessly thrashed about.

She tried her best to move, to use her healing jutsu to stop the massive bleeding, but the only thing she could do was observe as she heard the kid having difficulty breathing, steadily but surely drowning in his own blood.

Sakura started trembling as Kenji fell on his knees, having almost completely lost the battle for his life; A moment later, she watched as he fell limply on the floor, his eyes as if made of glass. She tried to speak , but her her voice wouldn't come out no matter how much she wanted it to. As she brought her bloodied hands on her face's level, her tremble only worsened as tears started coming out rapidly from her two emerald eyes.

" Hey", she turned to see who had spoken.

Clack. A sound accompanied by a flash startled and blinded her momentarily; furiously rubbing her eyes to regain her vision, she was shocked to see a camera on a tripod being pointed at her, the one who had taken her picture still behind the black cloth.

" Welcome to Field Training Division...You suck..."

" Wha...What are you talking about?" She heard a bang he had come to recognise well; When she looked at the boy's direction, there was nothing to be found. Tori interpreted her face correctly as she spoke.

" Kage Bunshin accurately showing realistic signs of death with the use of a special seal that doesn't allow him to immediately dissipate..." Sakura tried to reign over her feelings, not completely making it.

" Ho...How could you...do something this cruel?" Tori just smirked.

" This is nothing; In the afternoons I torture defenceless hungry puppies!". Sakura had by now regained her composure and did not respond." Why did you do this?"

The black haired woman just sighed. " Not the funny type eh? Anyway, this is standard procedure to evaluate your on the spot reflexes and character...And as I said, you suck..." Sakura merely glared at her.

" And the camera? Is it some kind of proof that I screwed up?" She knew she was being rude, but she was too pissed to care now. Tori for her part was impressed by the fact that the girl looking at her spoke up.

" This? No, this is just something I save for you little annoying bitches that cut in my coffee breaks; I can't believe that you only come then! And you don't appreciate the liquid gold that is coffee to top it off!" She produced an album from a storage scroll and took the newly print picture from the camera and evaluated it.

" Hmm, only the hands are bloodied and they are on the side instead of the face, a few tears and no puffy eyes, not kneeling from the pressure or regret; Not even shaking the 'dead' back and forth to bring them back...This is one of the worst pictures I've taken...It seems we may be able to make something out of you..."

" Despicable...", the pink haired girl mocked her. She laughed it off.

" Whatever you say, miss Moral Kunoichi... Anyway, check this one out; It's the best one I got all three years I've been in charge here...". She turned the album to let her see and pointed at one picture.

" She came here a few days ago, during my break of course...She sucked hard time... The strange thing is, she's slowly getting a bit better..."

Sakura was stunned by the picture; A young girl with blood all over her having fainted right next to the 'victim': She was able to make out her face despite all red liquid that covered it.

_'Hinata?' _

o-o

o-o

o-o

-TWO DAYS LATER, KONOHA'S MAIN GATES-

The genins of Team Zero were standing just outside the village gates, patiently waiting for their Sensei, each using his free time in different ways.

Sasuke was looking at the distance, his eyes unfocused, deep in thoughts, Sakura had her hands crossed, fuming at her Sensei's lazy behaviour , while Naruto was busy pumping chakra in his palms, trying to complete the first step of water manipulation; His efforts still had not yielded any kind of results, so for once, he was also quite irritated.

"Yo!", came the cheerful voice of the man with gravity defying hair.

" You're two hours late Sensei! You always are!", pointed an accusing Sakura and Naruto nodded, stopping the excess flow of chakra in his hands.

" Sakura-chan is right sensei...You're really unreliable...". The man looked at them with his familiar bored look before turning to Sasuke.

" Do you have anything to add?"

" Not really...They covered me..." he plainly stated, a completely serious face as always. The Jounin let out a breath before reaching for his precious orange companion.

" All I have to say is that I'm quite reliable...I'm always two hours late every time, you even said so yourselves..." . He opened the book on a seemingly random page and his eye started moving as he continued. " Let's get going; IT will take two days to get there..."

And so they began their journey to the center of the country, leaving the safety of Konoha's walls for the first time as a team.

" So... Where exactly are we going? Just some village to stop a few lousy evil bandits?" inquired the blond with disappointment, something Kakashi did not fail to notice.

" Yeah, that's about it...But you know, the place next to that lousy village happens to be quite interesting...". All three perked up at that comment, clearly waiting for more information and he obliged.

" You see, Itsuki village is located right next to a very well known and old forest; To understand why it considered as such, let me tell you story of one of the most important clans to ever exist: The Senju clan of the Forest..."

o-o

o-o

**Author's Notes**

Thanks for reading yet another chapter of The Living Fire's Will by Vorgonaz

I hope you enjoyed reading it even more than I enjoyed writing it!

I tried to adopt a more descriptive writing style here, mostly to see how much it suits me; It's experimental, so I would really like your opinion on whether I should continue like this or return back to the one I previously used.

This may feel like a 'filler' to some, but I think things like Team Eight's determination, Kushina's support and Sasuke's thoughts needed to be portrayed for the purpose of character development.

About Kushina: Kushina does not have the special chakra she has in canon, simply because it goes against my vision for the story's development. Also. I portray her the way a mature canon Naruto would probably behave, because I just can't see a Thirty-five year old woman getting worked up like a fifteen year old Naruto does in canon.

The Oc I introduced will have a very minor role in the future and that will be mostly for comic relief, so don't worry about her being in the spotlight, because I assure you , Tori Ireko ( Tori is the first name BTW) will not be like that at all.

To those who enjoy action more than character development, I inform you that there will be a good dose of it next chapter.

Finally, the skip of Team Zero's last session with Asuma was intentional, don't think I just forgot about it!

I would be glad to hear your thoughts on Kushina's special jutsu, character interactions and anything else you would like to add.


End file.
